 Buzz Simms. a concert pianist of great promise, is nearly strangled in his apartment. Simms has troubles enough -- a music critic for a local arts newspaper regularly scourges him at every performance. Did the music critic go one step further and try to kill Buzz for "bad music"? The critic is a friend of Sally s, who reads for the almost-blind old man. He has an alibi for the attack, but Mac suspects something is wrong when he finds that the music critic is a dead ringer for Buzz s late father, who despised modern jazz music. Mac also questions the music critic s near-blindness when he s slow to react to Mac pulling a trick with a light flash. Who is the music critic ... really?