Daniel Webster's bust sat for three dusty years in the Lentenment Decorating Shop, looking down upon a group of charmingly eccentric characters, who inhabited the untidy place. They were Emily, the owner, a lively personality with a passion for painting and life. Henry, her assistant, who has eschewed women ever since his former wife threw coffee in his face; his sister Cornelia, a picturesque failure who resented everybody, and her husband James, an ex-Harvard man with a compulsion for brushing his teeth three times a day and a penchant for virtue. These people and Luke Simpson, proprietor of the antique shop downstairs, were all concerned when the well-dressed Mrs. Delaphine, their mutual enemy. became a corpse and Daniel became a temporary arsenal. The lady in question was an unpleasant biddy who invited murder and got a quick answer. The first in this comic mystery series featuring Emily and Henry.