When an odd elderly man who kept a scrapbook of morbid quotations passes away, is his death due to an overdose of sleeping medication or is there a cold-blooded murderer at work? His family stands to lose a tidy sum in insurance money if the verdict is suicide—and the family needs money. Contrary to most mysteries where no one wants a murder to have happened, the heirs begin drumming up evidence to try and influence a verdit of foul play. The amateur "sleuths" do find some interesting clues, but Inspector Mallett of Scotland Yard is also on the case. A classic mystery.