THE STORY: Lord Peter Wimsey and Lady Harriet, newly married, have bought a delightful farmhouse, with odd furnishings and an interesting assortment of village characters. There are Mr.Puffett, chimneysweep, Mrs. Ruddle, the housekeeper, and Crutchley, gardener, as well as the Rev. Goodacre and Miss Twitterton, niece of Mr. Noakes, former owner of the house. Noakes has been mysteriously absent for some days, and has failed to tell his niece of the sale of the house to Lord Wimsey. Then Mr. McBride, solicitor’s representative, arrives to see the former owner. It appears Noakes owes considerable money, and that he has skipped with the cash paid him for the house. Lord Peter suggest refreshments from the cellar to ease the situation, but they find more than wine—the body of Noakes is also there! The shadow of guilt falls on everyone, even Kirk of the police force investigation, his local assistant, Joe Sellon. Peter and Harriet cannot escape the inevitable effort to solve the mystery—and they do.
