On the day after visiting his friend Peters, Rector Driver learns that Peters has been murdered. The prime suspect seems clear: the alcoholic gardener Trethewy, who has a motive, an opportunity, and the murder weapon. But when a strange letter concerning the fate of the ship Eleanor arrives for his dead friend, the rector realizes the murder mystery is more complicated than it appears.

Godfrey R. Benson’s works consist primarily of political essays and biographies of historical figures. Tracks in The Snow stands out as being his only work of fiction. Traces of his nonfiction writing style can be found in the novel, with its focus on illustrating a murderer’s cunning mind instead of depicting a logic puzzle as was common in contemporary detective fiction.