Chief Inspector Teal is investigating a spate of burglaries which seem to be linked by the presence of a criminal known as the High Fence, who uses the Cosy Corner cafe as his rendezvous. The Saint gets an actress friend, Gaby, to take a job as a waitress at the cafe to keep surveillance on its customers. At the same time Mr. Teal is singularly unimpressed by the performance of Inspector Pryor, who has allowed a suspect to die in custody and to whom the Saint adopts a very disparaging attitude.