A dementedly prim wife spies on her husband and is hammered to death by his paramour of the moment; a seemingly kind maid who mothers a wealthy orphan sets the house on fire; a retired couple are about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary when the husband throws himself out the window, or does his wife give him a little help? Set in mundane, repressed middle-class environments, these tales pivot on terrible slips off the leash.