Miss Bracegirdle Does Her Duty

Summary

The small minded and prudish sister of an English clergyman travels on her own to a hotel in Bordeaux. When she closes the door of her room after returning from a bath, she finds a man asleep on the bed.

She realises then she is in the wrong room, but the door handle has come off in her hand, and she can’t get out. Then she discovers the man is dead. To be found in a strange man’s bedroom in the night is bad enough, but to be found in a dead man’s bedroom was even worse.

A masterpiece, with outstanding characterisation and laced with subtle humour.