The incomparable Georgette Heyer is in her repertoire. Subtle irony on the one hand and overt sarcasm on the other serve as an unusually winning frame for a brilliantly constructed detective plot with our readers’ favorite heroes - Superintendent Hannasyde and the magnificent Hemingway (in this novel, still a sergeant). In a quiet suburb of London, a wealthy stock exchange businessman dies. The family is shocked by his death, although during his lifetime they did not particularly like the head of the family. Events take a very unexpected turn after a forensic examination. It turns out that the head of the family was poisoned. But it is not so easy to find the killer, although many family members had significant motives... The mocking and witty nephew of the murdered man, Randall Matthews, to whom the will leaves the bulk of a considerable inheritance, seems the most suspicious, although he has an impeccable alibi. But in life everything turns out to be much more complicated, and often fate laughs at those who try to laugh at fate...