Lord Peter Wimsey and his friend Chief Inspector Parker are told about the death from a few years back, of an elderly woman named Agatha Dawson who had been suffering from terminal cancer. She was being cared for by Mary Whittaker, her great-niece and a trained nurse. Miss Dawson had an extreme aversion to making a will, believing that Miss Whittaker, her only known relative, would naturally inherit everything. Wimsey is intrigued in spite of the fact that there is no evidence of any crime, nor any apparent motive, so he sends his private investigator to the village of Leahampton to investigate. This late revitalization of the case brings some knew clues and a new murder which proves Wimsey's suspicions, so he dedicates himself to solve this crime from the past.