Dorothy Pengelly lived alone in her remote, dilapidated cottage with only her pets as company. When her old friend, Rose Trevelyan calls round to visit and finds Dorothy dead she is devastated. And when Rose learns that it wasn't a heart attack but a case of suicide her suspicions are immediately roused. Dorothy would never have killed herself - but would anyone else have the motive to murder? Are the valuable paintings hanging on the walls the clue to the mystery? Perhaps Dorothy's avaricious daughter-in-law had a hand in the old lady's death, or maybe it is connected to a visit from a...

Rose Trevelyan is not concerned when her friend Etta does not turn up at the opening of her exhibition. When she hears the following day that a young man fell off a cliff in suspicious circumstances, Rose starts to makes connections and things start to go terribly wrong.

Rose suspects a murder has been committed. In trying to help young, talented Joel, Rose uncovers family secrets. She is proved right; there is a murder, but not the one she had foreseen nor one which the family could possibly have anticipated.