"Crucifixion on Christmas Day". That's what the newspapers report when a small-town schoolteacher is discovered dead, beheaded, and tied to a T-shaped cross on December 25th. It's a murder bizarre enough to pique Ellery Queen's interest - and intriguing enough to lure him to the West Virginia village where it occurred to take a closer look ... Ellery Queen investigates a series of bizarre murders that lead to a mysterious religious cult.