It had seemed an innocent lark, a group of young friends taking a short-term lease on a holdover from London’s past, an elegant house full of history and genuine if shabby furnishings. But when a silly prank turns tragic and one of their number, pretending to be a ghost, is shot dead by a pistol supposedly filled with blanks, the holiday becomes a matter for the police, specifically Chief Inspector Pointer of Scotland Yard. Was the death truly just a tragic accident, or was something more sinister behind it?