Blurb: As the curtain rises on this witty and ironic novel, Cato is furtively dropping a revolver into the night-enshrouded Thames. Henry, high above the Atlantic, is returning to England to claim an unexpected inheritance. His mother, Gerda, is waiting at Laxlinden Hall in fear of what Henry may do with the huge old estate. And Beautiful Joe, a vicious delinquent who is Cato's protégé, is about to hatch plans of his own for Henry's money ...

This is a rather funny novel about people who have got their wires crossed. Henry thinks he wants to live in America, that he doesn't want to own the property he just inherited and that he wants to marry his brother's mistress (which she wasn't as it turns out) and not Colette, who has been in love with him all her life. Cato thinks he is meant for the cloth and for saving poor young delinquents, but maybe the priesthood is not his thing after all. And does he have homosexual inclinations or doesn't he? Gerda, Henry's mother, thought the world would end once she would have to leave Laxlinden Hall, but there's a whole new world waiting out there for her.
Great read, a bit dated (published in 1976), but this is more than made up by Ms Murdoch's wonderful writing style.