Dear Mary: how do I check my friends have bought my book? 

Q. I am executor of a deceased bachelor whose will is clear that I should distribute his estate to his long-standing friends. There is no mention of what to do with family photos and heirlooms, which have little market value, but he hung on to them for sentimental reasons. I had thought to offer them to his two surviving blood relatives who are second cousins (and siblings to one another) and who, apart from a small pecuniary legacy, get nothing. Unfortunately, these relatives don’t talk to each other and cannot agree to fair shares each. What should I do?

– D.L., Newcastle-under-Lyme

A. Issue a photographic inventory of the sentimental items. Send a copy to each sibling and ask them to put their preferences in a long league table. Allocate accordingly. Where there is an obvious clash because both sibling A and sibling B crave the same first item, then the elder wins the first time, the younger the second time, and so on.