 Jessica helps her friend Margaret Johnson and preservation committee president Carol Collins fight against a New York development project which would cause a historical building, where Ernest Hemingway, author of For Whom the Bell Tolls (hence the title), once had an apartment, to be torn down if the last adjoining building is sold to them, but Nolan Walsh holds out with his pubs lease, even throws developer Eugene Gillrich out after promises and threats quite violently in public. Eugene and his wife Lee are desperate to save the project, while his brother and partner Walter wants to consider an alternate site; Eugene secretly romances Carol Collins. Then Walter is found shot dead at Eugene s desk, presumably Eugene was the target. NYPD Lieutenant Artie Gelber and Detective Henderson examine, and arrest Margaret after finding her fingerprints in the office. Jessica gives her an alibi, though not foolproof, and finds evidence Walter s body was moved, so he was the intended victim, and indeed the bullet is in Eugene s office. Jessica notices Carol ordered her usual drink at Nolan s pub, so she probably knew Eugene in advance, unlike her claim. Improbable mail gives Jessica a clue the 87 year-old is deceased; her heiress, a nurse, wanted to keep the apartment and inspires Jessica about a parking matter, the key to the murder plot...