Arthur George Morrison (1863-1945) was an English writer and journalist known for his realistic novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. The House of Haddock is the humorous story of an old rogue whose formerly genteel family has fallen on hard times. A former ancestor of his once gave a set of almshouses to the village, and our anti-hero sets out to ensure that one of these is allocated to him.

His first challenge is to get one of the existing tenants to leave. His initial attention is on dispatching an elderly disabled man with a bad cough, whose demise appears to be imminent and inevitable. But after the death of this individual, the church authorities allocate that almshouse to a youngish widow. This lady proves to be quite a challenge...and his strategy for taking possession of her house backfires spectacularly....