The motive for murder appears to be the papers of novelist G.E. Goff, his manuscript, diaries, and letters, and the chief suspects, apparently, are the writer's relatives and university colleagues
Anna Clarke was born in Cape Town and educated in Montreal and Oxford. She holds degrees in economics and English literature and has held a wide variety of jobs, mostly in publishing and university administration.
G. E. Goff is a national treasure of a writer. His grandsom and a well-known critic/reviewer both want to inherit his papers and journals in order to write about him. He is cared for primarily by his step-daughter and two nurses who work opposite shifts. He an intelligent, biting man of 90 who keeps his step-daughter busy as his personal secretary and typist. Her life has been dull and she stays in order to keep a promise to her deceased mother. I will leave it to the reader to find out how the Last Judgement is carried out.