Nether Stapling Manor nor any of the fine family possessions of this stately home really belonged to Lady Laura, but for more than 20 years she had enjoyed them undisturbed. Many people in the nearby little town of Rivering were well aware of the situation. No one was worried except nice old Cosmo Brierley, trustee of the Estate, and he had no control whatever over this eccentric aristocrat. His one comfort was that Lady Laura was a wonderful custodian of the place, keeping all intact and cherished, even making money by son et lumière in summer.

Three girls decide to share a flat in Chelsea: Denny, the sensible daughter of a famous actress; Chess, the long, lean, temperamental daughter of an Earl; Marya, the beautiful daughter of an Argentinian millionaire. The light-hearted story of their life together and of the men they meet is suddenly interrupted by the death of Mr. Flower, their meek little landlord.

When Jeanne spent her summer holidays there as a child with her school friend, Parson’s House on the cliff top had been a seaside haven, and the small Devon village a sleepy, tranquil place where nothing much ever happened. Now, years later, returning there from Canada, divorced and with twin four-year-old daughters, she could hardly expect the place or the people to be the same. But she was quite unprepared for the bustle of the modern town which greeted her, for the shadowy rumors and mystery surrounding the old house....

"A week at Trysting had its trials", Leigh thought. A round of odd jobs with Aunt Elvira, bad poetry with Aunt Rosande, and bouts of hay fever with Aunt Dolly were not his idea of a restful holiday. Nor did his cousin Raymond, who seemed sunk in gloom, help matters. Or a mystery Leigh could not fathom about someone burning down the old house and the disappearance of the family silver. But meanwhile there was a Hampshire summer, and there was Auriol. Auriol, Leigh thought, was lovely - but he didn’t want to live on eggs.

Tourists found it hard to imagine a quainter, more lovable spot than Deepwood Village; but the villagers were not quite as lovable as their surroundings. Deepwood House, too, was chiefly known as the home of three wicked and rich Stirlings. So one summer, Deepwood attracted some rather strange visitors, as well as the tourists. Like the eccentric new gardener, who let the flowers scorch and talked to people nobody else could see.

On his retirement, George Ainstey had moved to Ellstream, hoping to escape from the tensions of London life. His only neighbors were Lady Charlotte Merrion, who lived in the mansion on the site of an 18th-century ruin, and her daughter-in-law, Antonia Merrion, whose land adjoined Mr. Ainstey’s.

Elaine Tracy wins a luxury cruise to Las Palmas for her fiancé and herself. They quarrel, and Elaine breaks off the engagement but decides to go on the cruise alone. Attractive and unattached, once on board she inevitably draws a certain amount of masculine attention and for her, the holiday promises to be extremely diverting. But not all her fellow passengers, she discovers, are quite what they seem.

David Eliot’s future seemed secure with his engagement to Marly Tranter, the daughter of the incredibly rich and powerful Sir Bertram Tranter. As an architect, David seemed to fit right in with the family, even if it included a golden collar. But the mission on which Sir Bertram sent David and Marly to Portugal created havoc in everyone’s plans, including the preposterous Mr. Easter, the eccentric Lady Pearling, and Teresa, Senhora Silva’s delightful and beautiful niece. What David finds out when he gets there changes his perspective on his life and future.

Mr. Channing is devoted to his garden, but it is his youngest daughter Christine who is truly the apple of his eye. When Christine’s fiancé breaks off his engagement to her at the request of his grandfather, Mr. Channing is persuaded by his wife and other daughters to take Christine to Portugal for a holiday. They are charmed by the country where they soon make many friends. Among them, the Baronesa Narvão who invites them to stay in her luxurious mansion. But the Baronesa is not all she appears to be.

When, like Ruth and Roger Mallard, you inherit a large house but no money to keep it up, one thing you can do is turn it into a guest-house. And having made up their minds, the Mallards decided that River Lodge was to be a guest-house of the very best kind. The first week’s guests were specially chosen - or self invited: a rich aunt; a theatrical producer and the lovely Felicity; Felicity’s sister and her twins; a famous artist and the amiable “Goosey”; the fattest dog in fiction; and a not-so-rich but very comic uncle and aunt.

Mrs. Belchamber was not invited but Mrs. Belchamber came to stay. The changes she introduced into Scotty’s topsy-turvy Kentish farmhouse were past belief. But though Christopher could not help feeling some concern that he had landed on his friend a woman of character as well as three lively French children, the Belchamber influence on his own friendship with Cressida was admittedly an almost unmixed blessing.

One day Jody was found lying at the foot of a staircase on her way to give a client a beauty treatment. When she recovered and talked of a man with a goat and a yellow-and-black front door, her brother-in-law and Charles, her fiancé, told her she was imagining things. But Jody was unconvinced, and determined to find the man she remembered, leading a small goat.

Old Mrs. Lauder was as loathsome as her lilies were lovely. Every year, the vicar had hoped for a change of heart in this sinister woman whose murder brought fear and suspicion to the village, to the church, and the lilies she had denied them every Easter while she lived. But somewhere in those waxen blooms, there was a message and a danger signal.

Jessica de Vrais was 22, the only child of an elderly and irritable widower. Though they thought alike on almost all matters, they agreed on none; least of all did they see eye to eye on the subject of men. Jessica, pretty and popular, invited them to come and stay; Mr. de Vrais, irritable and suspicious, invited them to go away and stay away. Fortune-hunters all, he said furiously to his daughter. One and all, they were after her money - his money. One look, he shouted, and he could smell them a mile off. Hangers-on. Yahoos. Parasites.

This is the diary of an English girl who falls in love with an eligible young Portuguese, Afonso. The bride recounts, vividly and hilariously, her and her mother's plans for an English country wedding, how they dealt with Uncle George (The Head of the Family), and their success in making sure that on her wedding day the church was filled with music and flowers (both officially banned due to the “mixed” marriage of a Catholic bridegroom and a Church of England bride). She subsequently finds herself living on a horse-rearing estate in a rural part of Portugal, coping with a truculent cook and a primitive kitchen....