The Wrong Box

Summary

The Wrong Box is a black comedy novel co-written by Robert Louis Stevenson and Lloyd Osbourne, first published in 1889. The story is about two elderly brothers Masterman and Joseph Finsbury, who are the last two surviving members of a tontine, an investment scheme set up many years before, in which the last member stands to receive a fortune. Masterman, who hasn't talked to his despised brother in many years, summons Joseph to his "deathbed," intending to kill him so that Michael, his medical student grandson, can get the money.