It's tough being a damn'd Yankee reporter in Southern City, but life just gets worse when the nude bodies of two women-one white; one black- are found in Cattail Swamp with their heads cut off and swapped. Of course the only way to identify them is to have the bodies on display so every person in Southern City can see them. And the viewing has to be segregated. With such an organized ritual, how can ace reporter Tommy Skirmont ever hope to solve the mystery and keep his job? Only Harry Stephen Keeler could make all this make sense.