In a quiet English village, the Strongitharm twins met their fates almost simultaneously. One of the brothers was gassed in the garden hothouse; the other died in a hospital room. Their double doom was no mere accident; indeed, the lethal epidemic threatened to spread. The cause? A family fortune.
A number of suspects were readily noticeable, among them a mentally deficient heiress, a middle-aged femme fatale, and a blind, egotistical dowager. The scene, already abounding with unlovely personalities, was to be further darkened by the dowager's son, a man with sinister charm and curious hair.