....It is true he had no motive for suicide, but there was still less motive for murder. Nobody wished ardently that Henry might live, but, on the other hand, nobody benefitted by his interesting and mysterious death—that is to say, nobody but Henry's family; and it is not considered probable that well-dressed, respectable people benefit by a parent's death.

In her 60-year career, Phyllis Forbes Dennis (1884 - 1963) published 33 novels, several of them bestsellers, short stories, essays, biographies and memoirs, using her pseudonym Phyllis Bottome. She lectured widely in Britain and America. She was translated into nine languages.