Whilst the Chief and Ed are at a party, the host is shot at by an unseen assailant, and Ironside wastes no time in settling himself down with the rest of the guests to try to work out who the would-be killer might be. The truth, he is sure, is in the garden somewhere; and all that he and Ed have to do is to find it before their opponent strikes again.

When Ed returns from a holiday he finds the Chief missing, and a series of obscure clues pointing to the suggestion that he has been kidnapped. In truth Ironside has been waylaid by an old enemy, a mobster seeking his help to solve a murder, but a gang war is brewing and the Chief needs his team to find him in time to stop it erupting unchecked.