When a British tourist fails to turn up for a luxurious cooking vacation in the idyllic village in the south of France that Bruno Courr ges calls home, the chief of police is quickly on the case. Monika Felder is nowhere to be found, and her husband, a retired British general, is unreachable. Not long after Bruno discovers that Monika was traveling with a mysterious Irishman with a background in intelligence, the two turn up dead. Was she running away? How much does her husband really know? Meanwhile, the star of the girls' rugby team is pregnant, jeopardizing her chances of being named to the French national squad. Bruno's search for the truth in both cases leads him in some unexpected directions--but as ever, he and his friends find time along the way to savor the culinary delights of the region.