An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley

An Inspector Calls was written in the aftermath of World War II and is set in the years immediately preceding World War I.

The play opens with the engagement party of Sheila Birling and Gerald Croft (son of a prosperous businessman) in the imaginary city of Brumley. Into these celebrations enters Inspector Goole, who announces an unpleasant suicide: a young woman named Eva Smith swallowed disinfectant and died. The connection of Eva Smith to the Birling family dates back two years ago when she worked in the Birling factory and was dismissed there for being one of the ringleaders agitating for a pay rise. Both Sheila and Gerald have bad consciences, as both have made themselves guilty as to the death of Eva Smith.

The story is complicated by the Inspector's questions concerning Eva Smith's suicide. It is revealed that all the Birlings bear some responsibility as to her death. Gerald Croft installed the penniless Eva as his mistress, Mrs. Birling's charity committee refused to hepl her when she asked for help and Mrs. Birling's son Eric made Eva pregnant. She refused to marry him, as she considered him too immature at that time. So the Inspector forced on each of the Birlings the knowledge that they all played a part in bringing Eva Smith to her death.

The Inspector leaves and it dawns on the Birlings that he might have not been a real police officer. Both the calls to the hospital where Eva Smith was supposed to have died, and to the local police station establish that there was neither a suicide reported nor a police officer called Inspector Goole. The old Birlings immediately reject all accusations, but Sheila and Gerald maintain that they all have made themselves guilty. At the end of the play there is a final telephone call announcing that there is a police inspector on his way to the Birlings to ask them some questions on the suicide of a girl who has just died on the way to hospital.
Useful notes are:

York Notes on An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley