Murder is a House Guest — Isabel Cabot

It was for a good reason, but a reason she was not free to divulge, that Lynn Mead had summoned Joe Healy to the town of Culls' Landing on Cape Run. Joe was a detective, and Lynn feared that Daniel Farnsworth, with whom she was spending the summer as a private secretary, was headed for real trouble.

Daniel's purpose in leasing Ponder Point Manor and inviting his until-now estranged relatives to be his guests had been looked upon with suspicion by everyone concerned, though none had refused the expense-paid vacation. It was not until his overtures at reestablishing friendly relations were backed up with detailed -- and very generous -- plans to assist each of them financially that the suspicion began to wane. Daniel was very convincing in claiming to owe these people this much because when they had done him out of a fortune years earlier, they had driven him to achieve affluence and prominence on his own.

Lynn Mead, though, knew that Daniel's real purpose was far removed from what met the eye. William, Austin, and Nancy Farnsworth, Lillian and Max Loomer and their daughter Cory had in store far more than a surprise. What was about to happen at Ponder Point Manor would rock every one of them -- and Lynn feared that Daniel Farnsworth's scheme would prove to be his own undoing.