Having solved the two murders that somehow fell in her path, Beatrice Hyde-Clare is on the lookout for a third.

Through an absurd quirk of stupid fate, the shy spinster has fallen in love with the thoroughly unattainable Duke of Kesgrave and is desperate for something, anything, to occupy her mind. A dead body would do nicely.Fortunately for her, a fellow guest from a Lake District house party appears on her doorstep with exactly that: the lover of his fiancée's mother expired after a wretchedly painful episode just that morning in an apparent poisoning.

As unorthodox as it is, he would like Bea to investigate rather than calling the authorities. Bea begins her inquiry into Mr. Wilson's death at once and almost immediately finds herself in the company of Kesgrave, who is as determined as ever to assist her.

'Twas patently unfair, for the whole point of the investigation was to get away from the handsome lord. Now Bea is faced with the daunting challenge of exposing the villain without revealing her heart.