Death and Mary Dazill

After attending a burial in an old country churchyard, Superintendent Mallett and his friends are struck by the sight of two elderly ladies, regally dressed in black and accompanied by their uniformed chauffeur, placing an elaborate wreath on the graveyard’s most imposing monument. The vicar confirms that the Misses de Boulter of Chetwode Lodge have placed fresh flowers on the tomb of their father and brother every week for the last fifty years. In the opposite corner of the churchyard lies the small, neglected grave of one Mary Dazill. In flashbacks, we learn how everything goes wrong in the lives of the two sisters when their father brings the enigmatic Mary home and proposes to marry her. Soon, murder ensues, and a fatalistic mystery with the emotional echoes of a Greek tragedy.