Includes bibliographical references (pages 357-363, 367-397) and index.

Preface: Hiding in plain sight -- Part one: Victorian girl, 1890s. The house where I was born ; Insanity in the family ; The thing in the house ; Ruined -- Part two: Edwardian debutante, 1900s. Waiting for the man ; Best Victorian lavatory ; The Gezireh Palace Hotel ; Enter Archibald -- Part three: Wartime nurse, 1914-18. Torquay Town Hall ; Love and death ; Enter Poirot ; The Moorland Hotel -- Part four: Bright young author, 1920s. Enter London ; Enter Rosalind ; The British Mission ; Thrillers -- Part five: 1926. Sunningdale ; The Mysterious Affair at Styles ; Disappearance ; The Harrogate Hydropathic Hotel ; Reappearance -- Part six: Plutocratic period, 1930s. Mesopotamia ; Enter Max ; I think I will marry you ; Eight houses ; The golden age -- Part seven: Wartime worker, 1940s. Beneath the bombs ; A daughter's a daughter ; Life is rather complicated ; By Mary Westmacott -- Part eight: Taken at the flood, 1950s. A big expensive dream ; They came to Baghdad ; Christie-land after the war ; Second row in the stalls ; A charming grandmother -- Part nine: Not swinging, 1960s. The mystery of the Christie fortune ; A queer lot ; Lady detectives ; To know when to go -- Part ten: Curtain, 1970s. Winterbrook ; After the funeral.