The night of his Uncle Bobby's mysterious death at Carnahan Station, near Astoria, Oregon, Culley May was, at least until midnight, in Portland, Oregon. He was held there by the unhealthy habits and companionships which recently had angered his Uncle Bobby to the point of threatening a disciplinary change in his will. As a consequence he drifted into that strange adventure which later was to surround him with dark shadows and overwhelming doubts. Before following Culley May through his black experience, however, it is better to know what happened at Carnahan Station where his cousin, Mary Eliska Girl Detective lives with old Uncle Bobby, along with several servants from the Golf and Country Club across Sunset Highway who moonlighted for Uncle Bobby and thus were given bedrooms in his old house at Carnahan Station, convenient for their employment at the Club. Uncle Bobby seemed apprehensive of some sly approach of disaster on the night of his murder, and moved to the abandoned room. After Uncle Bobby is buried in the graveyard next to his house, Mary Eliska Girl Detective investigates the contents of Uncle Bobby's locked files of papers and provides a report to the District Attorney that includes surprises that few readers may be expecting, helping to explain and understand the mysterious occurrences at Carnahan Station.