Friendship, jealousy and grief comprise the themes of this early Highsmith novel, in which two men, both in love with the same woman, suspect each other of murder when Lelia is found mutilated and covered in blood in her house in Mexico. Neither of the two very dissimilar men will confess to the crime, nor does either wish that the other was behind the murder: Theodore, a wealthy German artist, calm and reserved; Ramón, a poor Mexican waiter, vivacious and quick-tempered.