On the eve of New Year at James Pardaine’s house, a scandal is brewing: secret drawings have disappeared from James’s office. But Mr. Pardaine knows exactly who the thief is and offers him a chance to confess. The news has the effect of a bomb exploding: relatives start guessing which of them betrayed the family’s interests. Yet their astonishment and horror know no bounds the next morning, when it turns out that James Pardaine was murdered during the night. And, most likely, the person who stole the drawings did it.
The police take on this complicated family matter, and at the request of the deceased man’s nephew they receive help from the incomparable woman detective Miss Silver. Gifted with a sharp mind, attentive to details and psychological aspects of tangled family relationships, she identifies the killer—and the thief.