Susan Baird is found dead at her tea-table and all the evidence points to murder. She is supposed to have been penniless but when her will is found her niece Kitty inherits a fortune. Grave suspicion shifts from one person to another and the two suitors for Kitty's hand whom Washington society had watched with interest seem closely connected with the many clues which again and again prove worthless. Until the closing chapters unravel the mystery you suspect the most innocent people and the real murderer and his fiendish devices come as a shock.