World War II is limping to a close, but it isn?t the Germans who are troubling the Dowager Marchioness of Carados right now. The problem is the potential derailment of her son?s wedding by the discovery, in his bed, of the body of a distinctly inappropriate girl who seems to have swallowed a fatal handful of pills. Never one to be cowed, the Marchioness enlists a friend to dump the body in a temporarily empty flat. But the flat?s owner?Albert Campion?returns home unexpectedly, on brief leave from the war. Understandably a bit put out, Campion determines nonetheless to carry out his original plan: A fast change of clothing and then off to the country. The police, however, have other ideas.