Information for An Inspector Calls at Empire Theatre, Sunderland (Play). When Inspector Goole calls unexpectedly on the prosperous Birling family investigating the suicide of a poor young local woman his startling revelations shatter the very foundation of their lives. As the Inspector asks insinuating questions it becomes clear that they all bear guilt for the destruction of the woman they have variously exploited for cheap labour, cheap sex and worse - And then the plot thickens. Written at the end of the second World War and set before the first, An Inspector Calls is a brilliantly compelling and haunting thriller.