"Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, takes a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the decaying country residence of Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weekend house-party, where her bombastic nephew decides that an after-dinner séance would be more entertaining than bridge. The lights go out and Cicely disappears. With Lady Susan reluctant to call the police about what is presumably a childish prank, Stephen and the plucky Pauline Mainwaring take it upon themselves to investigate. But then a suspicious death turns the game into an altogether more serious affair... " -- Book jacket flap.