I had detected no sound or movement, but her eyes were open and, as I approached, she fixed them on me with an agonized stare. Tessa Crichton, actress, wife of Scotland Yard Inspector Robin Price, comes to Storhampton to star in the local drama festival ... and finds her most challenging role in a masquerade ending in murder. It begins when the insufferable Edna Mortimer sees her exact double at the races-and is literally scared stiff. Somebody has played a nasty practical joke on the wealthy dowager. But, one look at Mrs. Mortimer's terrified eyes and some indecipherable pencil squiggles tell Tessa this is no laughing matter. Could the grim prankster be one of Edna's greedy heirs? When the will is finally read, it only raises more questions. Someone is not getting their just deserts. But, can Tessa find out who before the deadly double strikes again?

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