Britain and had reportedly regaled Stanford's domestic staff with tales of English aristocrats being poisoned by their servants.)

The Harry Morse Detective and Patrol Agency was retained for a discreet investigation of the incident. Its detectives put Richmond under surveillance and scoured records of Bay Area pharmacies for possibly-suspicious purchases of strychnine but found none. The agency learned that the mansion was a hothouse of petty staff jealousies, graft, and intrigue, but it could not