This mystery is set in 1894 London, where the Collard and Vandervant families are linked by business and marriage, if not affection. Presiding over all is matriarch Harriet Collard, whose offspring include dissipated George, nominal director of the firm; mousy Charlotte; and unhappy Beatrice, whose arranged union with Roger Vandervant ends mysteriously when he suffers a fatal gastric misadventure.