Understandably, Lord Burford had some misgivings about hosting another house party at Alderley, his beautiful country mansion. After all, the previous two could at best be described as disastrous, since a couple of their guests were unceremoniously bumped off during their stay on each occasion. But with family members travelling down for the funeral of an elderly relative, the Earl really had no choice but to offer them accommodation.

It didn't take long for things to start to go wrong. One of the guests claimed she had knowledge that would ruin the others' reputations, but luckily nobody took her seriously enough to take offence. At least, that's what they thought up until her body was found.

Lord Burford had never been so relieved as when Chief Inspector Wilkins arrived - again!