Cornelia Lackland ruled her house with an iron fist and a firm grasp on the pocketbook. Her late husband—she was his second wife—had left her in charge of his two granddaughters and his self-made fortune. John Lackland has risen from nothing to something, only to see his own children rebel against him and make bad, impulsive marital choices He was determined that his granddaughters not follow in their footsteps. Cornelia, a former stage actress whose own past was a bit colorful, was more than up to the task. Jenny and Carol lived as virtual prisoners, albeit quite comfortably, in a large house filled with servants in the old cathedral town of Minsterbridge, located just thirty miles from London.

What’s more, the two cousins couldn’t even be sure if Mrs. Lackland’s death would set them free, since the provisions of their grandfather’s will were sealed. Things came to a head one hot summer in the late 1930s when the old lady took ill, hovered at the edge of death, and then miraculously recovered. But the night before she was to meet with her solicitor to make yet one more change in her will, she was found dead, the apparent victim of a poisoner. Chief Inspector Dan Pardoe of Scotland Yard is called in to investigate an ever-growing list of suspects.