On the surface, Richard Ainsworth has life where he wants it. Middle-aged navel gazing and Olympic levels of procrastination are exactly what rural life in France should be about. Then crisis hits his posh B&B when redoubtable housekeeper, Madame Tablier, is accused of murdering a former fiancé.

An accusation which the stubborn old woman refuses to deny. Valérie d'Orçay is having none of it and their investigation leads them to a strange tourist garden village, where backbiting, recriminations and former colleagues provide a deadly scenario more tangled than knotweed.