"How would you like to be a rocket? A stranger for a week, an heiress for a week, then down with the stick and a stranger again."

Imperious, warm-hearted Honoria Maquisten plans to revise her will – but before the papers can be drawn up, she is dead from an overdose of pills. All eyes are on Carey Silence, a penniless orphan who was recently made Honoria's ward. Suspicion becomes evidence, Carey is arrested and her trial is prepared. So begins a classic golden age mystery with many suspects and twists. Who was the 'rocket' referred to? Who was it Honoria really intended to cut out of her will? And most importantly – who murdered her?

This novel, from 1945, tells the story of one of the most dramatic trials in detective fiction – the trial of Carey Silence. The new edition features an introduction by crime fiction historian Curtis Evans.

"When I pick up a book by Patricia Wentworth I think, now to enjoy myself – and I always do." Mary Dell, Daily Mirror