Thea Osborne, accompanied by her beloved spaniel Hepzie, has had her fair share of unfortunate occurrences while house-sitting, and her new assignment for the mysterious Yvonne Parker is no exception. The isolated, unsettling village of Snowshill has Thea on edge as soon as she arrives , and Hyacinth House - her new, rather cluttered home - does not dispel her feelings. Stevie Horsfall, a mischievous child from the village, is found strangled outside Hyacinth House, with his eccentric mother Gudrun as the prime suspect, A malicious web of suspects leads Thea through the lives of the villagers and their secrets, to London and beyond.