It was Esther Kesgrave, maid in the service of the Botesdale family for many years, who found the second Mrs. Botesdale lying dead at the foot of the basement stairs. She made the discovery on her return from a visit to her master, the dead woman's husband, who was a certified lunatic confined in a mental home. The tragedy seems to have been accidental, but as the lady was alone when she fell police investigations and an inquest are inevitable and Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard is called in. The Inspector's keen eye for detail soon picks out some interesting and highly suspicious facts connected with a tea-caddy and the incalculable lack of fingerprints on the china set out on a tea-tray. Ably aided and abetted by his old friend Desmond Merrion Inspector Arnold is soon immersed in as baffling a murder case as any in his career.