The Quinton Case

It's nearly Christmas, and Janet and Joan Markham have been looking forward to having Doveby House to themselves for a fortnight. Joan promised not to book any guests into the bed and breakfast through Christmas and New Year. When Joan gets a letter from a distant cousin who wants to visit, though, the sisters can't bring themselves to turn him away.

Roland Dickerson turns out to be a fairly unpleasant man who expects to be entertained during his visit. While the sisters do their best, they feel considerably less hospitable when Roland informs them that before he arrived he'd discovered a newer will written by the sisters' great-aunt Mildred. Janet and Joan had used the money they'd inherited from Mildred to buy Doveby House.

When Roland's solicitor, Eldridge Quinton, arrives, he and Roland suggest a settlement that would see the sisters paying their cousin far more than they can easily afford.

But is Roland truly their distant cousin? Is the newly discovered will actually genuine? Will the man's visit ruin Christmas for the sisters, or can their friends help them out of a difficult situation?