Cassie Swann spends the evening of Lady Portia Wickham's murder at Halkham Court, taking part in a high-stakes bridge game hosted by Portia's husband, Lord Wickham. Although the two women never actually meet, Cassie feels an instant rapport with the Rubenesque Portia. Judging from her portrait - and the all-too-evident devotion of her charming young butler, Jamie - Portia was not a woman to deny herself any of life's pleasures. In fact, as a result of the ungentlemanly behavior of Cassie's partner, the socially ambitious Royston Chilcott, she is the first to discover Portia's body in the driveway - albeit without realizing it at the time. (As she exasperatedly explains to the police, it was dark, windy, and pouring rain - not ideal conditions for detecting a body, even if you do happen to trip over it.). Although Inspector Manntrip and the handsome Sergeant Walsh have suspicions about the unlikely discoverer of the murder victim, they focus their attention elsewhere. When the hapless Jamie is arrested, Cassie's intuition tells her they have the wrong man.