A Death in Naples uses the crime/mystery genre as a foil to parody the prudery and self-deception of the detective novels of the last mid-century where there are no men having sex with men, or women with women. The Old lady from the English Village is really an interfering busybody with a narrow worldview and seething with race and class stereotypes and prejudices. Her nephew is gay as Mardi Gras but she has no clue. The European Detective, a fuss-budget dandy, lives with a man in a homosexual relationship.
Miss Marmores is invited to go to Naples with her nephew Hilary who is on an assignment to interview Fidel D'ore, an American writer. Ulysses Papagayo, the famous detective, also arrives at Naples for a holiday with Contessa Tocconini. At tea with the Contessa one afternoon, Mrs. Sinclair-Howick has a heart attack and is pronounced dead. Miss Marmores interferes and Ulysses Papagayno investigates. All is disclosed in the epilogue.