The Skeleton in the Clock

In a late night confab, lawyer John Stannard, bookshop owner Ruth Challice, and artist Martin Drake discuss the idea of earthbound spirits lurking about after a sudden death. They come up with the idea of looking for some - and the most likely place being a prison's execution shed. Stannard has connections with the keepers of Pentecost Prison, and as it has been closed for years, manages to get the keys for an overnight stay.

Drake has been diligently searching for a lost love, only known to him as Jenny, since they got separated after a brief romance during the war three years earlier. Drake attends an auction with his friend Sir Henry Merrivale, and runs into Jenny - and to his dismay learns she is engaged to Richard Fleet.

Drake seeks out Fleet, to try to dissuade him from the marriage. To his surprise, Fleet is happy to back out of it. Drake learns that Richard's father, Sir George Fleet had fallen to his death from Fleet House, near the prison, twenty years ago. The police receive a series of anonymous postcards claiming his death was murder. Sir Henry Merrivale investigates. - RM