 In the red light district of the Bottoms, Topaz/Roberta Strutt finds her friend Charmaine Rogers murdered. The Sparta police are called to investigate. Virgil Tibbs rousts a high profile pimp, Atticus Paul, for trying to take over Sparta s prostitution trade. Overhearing a discussion of the case in the Magnolia Cafe, attorney Royce Johnson is appalled. The owner of the Magnolia and Bill Gillespie s lady friend, Joanne St. John, hires drifter Clay Caulder as the new short order cook, which is not to Bill s liking. In a sweep of the Bottoms, Bill and Virgil find Clay with a sixteen-year-old hooker. Bill, of course, considers Clay the likely suspect in Charmaine s murder, but Virgil naturally likes Atticus for the deed.