There is a certain insistence about the ring of a doorbell that few can resist. So it was that September Sunday morning with Marabelle. It was her sister, the immaculate and self-centered Susan, who had come to command a favor. Marabelle thought afterwards that if only she had not gone to the door, it would have saved a lot of trouble. And perhaps it might have saved a life . . . or two . . . or three.
Why, on a wet and stormy night, did the not only old, but very ill novelist Dan Braile decide to take a walk? The problems really begin when he doesn't come back. Most of his family wouldn't be sorry to see him disappear. Added to that are claims he'd made about someone trying to poison him.
Lester Ballard's death is a mysterious affair, not least because of the strange attire he is found dead in. Ruth Seabright, governess to Lester's son, is completely baffled. She finds the body but cannot find her charge, nor can she work out who has been searching through her room.