A Old-Fashioned Family Murder

A murder. A mystery. A mother. It's a dark and stormy night at the mansion of elderly Colonel Claythorne, and the pompous murder-mystery author Arthur Whittington is holding court with the Colonel's family: his eldest daughter, Clarice, who is cold and glamorous; Clarice's attractive fiancé, Jasper; Claythorne's youngest daughter, Dotty, who is a big fan of Whittington's; and Mrs. Shirley Peck, an unassuming but keenly observant visiting widow. When Whittington shares the news that the Colonel has modified his will to cut out one of his daughters - though which daughter won't be revealed until the Colonel's death - tempers flare. By the time Mrs. Peck's son, (junior) Detective Paul Peck arrives at the house, there's been a murder, and everyone is a suspect. With backstabbing, love and Mrs. Peck's mother-knows-best advice complicating the investigation, it soon becomes clear that nothing - and no one - is what it seems.