Ludo is an impoverished aspiring novelist who spends his days writing in the Banking Hall at Harrods in order to save money on heat.

When she tells the waiter at the Claremont she is expecting a guest for dinner on Saturday, one of the other residents overhears and assumes that the visitor will be Mrs. Palfrey's grandson Desmond.

Eventually, prompted by his mother, the real Desmond reluctantly goes to visit Mrs. Palfrey, who manages to hide his identity from the other residents and discourages him from returning, telling him that she cannot receive visitors at the Claremont.

The following day Ludo finishes writing his novel, whose title, They Weren't Allowed to Die There, is based on a remark Mrs. Palfrey made to him about the Claremont Hotel.

[1] While their material circumstances are relatively comfortable, the elderly Claremont residents are subject to loneliness and boredom, and depend on family visits to prove to themselves and others that they have not been abandoned by their loved ones.

[3]: 32  She had already made some similarly face-saving excuses on behalf of Desmond for his failure to visit, such as illnesses and trips abroad, which can be seen as "more akin to the good manners she never shies away from" than to deliberate lying.

Amis describes Taylor's presentation of Ludo's motives as "scrupulously balanced" between affection, boredom, and delight in finding her "such marvellous material, and also unintentionally funny.

Kingsley Amis described it as a "continuously fascinating novel, always pushing the reader one way and another", and emphasized its humour despite the seemingly grim subject matter.

[9] In a 1973 essay about Elizabeth Taylor's work in the New Statesman Paul Bailey described Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont as both her "funniest" and "saddest" book, "deeply upsetting" but "a joy to read" because of the way in which the story is told, and compared her to Chekhov.

[12] An adaptation of the novel written by Ray Lawler and directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg was broadcast on the BBC One series Play for Today in October 1973.