By "Come to Grief", Halley's agency has become a sole proprietorship, after Barnes, newly married, leaves the firm at the behest of his bride. Halley becomes a public pariah when, in the course of an investigation into several shocking cases of animal cruelty, he uncovers evidence that the responsible party is a well-known, and extremely popular, TV sports journalist. "Come to Grief" also won an Edgar for Best Novel, making Halley the only detective-hero in fiction to be featured in two novels that won the Edgar for best novel, and the only one to headline a series for which every single entry (to that point) was an Edgar finalist in the Best Novel category.