It is late May, 1929. Cyrus Skeen has concluded his case in The Head of Athena in which he exonerated a prominent lecturer of the charge of murder. His artist wife, Dilys, has returned from a visit to relatives back East in Massachusetts, and is preparing to work on her first painting. He has a new secretary, Lucy Wentz, who is quick to learn Skeen's character traits, habits, likes and dislikes, and the routine of Skeen Investigations. He begins one morning by ejecting two very unwelcome visitors to his office. And when one of the advocates of government censorship who demanded that Skeen publish an apology for how he has handled past criminals, is murdered, things go awry. The Picketts run a chapter of a national "decency" organization that advocates government regulation of the movies, of advertising, and even of print. There isn't much they like. And then he meets Erebus Hammerschmidt, the second in charge of the Committee of Concerned Citizens for Public Decency. He must somehow counter an effort to censure him and to have his investigator's license revoked. He is left little time to rest from the adventure of early May. He must exonerate himself from the charge of murder. Civic Affairs is one of the detective's most unusual cases.