Marton Manor, in rural Herefordshire, makes a romantic setting even for a hastily organised wedding. And it is a quickly-arranged ceremony indeed that Fleur Jarvas is demanding - even though marrying before her twenty-first birthday means forfeiting a large inheritance. Naturally all the guests, including banker-turned-sleuth Mark Treasure and his wife Molly, are dying to know why. But that's only the first mystery lurking beneath the surface of this increasingly sinister country weekend. The real question is why the long-straying father of the bride shows up uninvited...

As the wedding-eve rituals gather pace, so does the tension. And when the next day dawns, it is not to bells and confetti but to two unexplained deaths, a pointed disappearance - and a testing case for Treasure.