After the corpse of George Hawken had been found on the rocks near his Cornish home, the coroner’s jury brought in an open verdict. Hawken had been a respected but financially unsuccessful artist whose death benefitted no one except one of his nephews, who inherited a modest cottage. Yet that nephew had mysteriously disappeared. There was no doubt about the death of Hawken’s brother, Sir Matthew, which followed not long afterwards; five grains of potassium cyanide had killed him instantly. Inspector Arnold and his friend Desmond Merrion were faced with a paradox: those who had had an opportunity to commit both crimes had no motive; no one with a motive had had the opportunity.

Death Paints a Picture was first published in England in 1960, and was the last mystery novel published by Cecil John Charles Street under his Miles Burton pen-name.