Our story begins just after Nan Corliss, an eccentric old lady, dies and leaves her strange old house in Crowfield to her nephew, Dr. Owen Corliss, his wife, daughter Mary, and son John. The Corliss family move in, only to find that Aunt Nan has left practical jokes, mysterious clues based on Shakespeare’s poetry, and surprises, both in the library bequeathed specifically to Mary and elsewhere in the house, for the family to find. (Summary by Winnifred Assmann)