There were seven sisters in the strange household. As they grew up jealousy, bitterness, and hatred would tear them apart. The story starts in 1947 with niece Sally, married, pregnant, living happily in London, receiving a letter from a girlfriend, commiserating on the murder of an uncle by an aunt who thereupon committed suicide. But which aunt and which uncle? Sally doesn't know, and immediately worries about a family streak of insanity affecting her and her child. Her sensible husband requests her to tell the whole story to him, from her first family wedding in 1928 to the present. Many of the aunts have motive and opportunity, but still Sally doesn't know Why, When, How, Where, and Who. A visit to the newspaper files in the British Reading Rooms confirms her husband's suspicions.