While taking a week off to move into their new home, Barnaby takes time to visit his aunt, Alice Bly, who is staying at a local convalescent home for a few weeks. She tells him that a resident died there the previous evening and at least one other resident believes it was murder. When the home's administrator tells Barnaby that residents' personal effects are going missing, he gets Troy to look into the goings on at the manor. When a second resident is found dead soon after, Barnaby begins to suspect that something is amiss.