Ellen is in Virginia to investigate a Colonial ghost sighting on an old plantation, but the spirits she disturbs are far deadlier than she thought.

When Ellen McKenzie's Aunt Mary decides to fly to Virginia to help her best friend Elizabeth Smithwood, Ellen has no choice but to go along to keep Mary out of trouble. It seems that a ghost in Colonial dress has been causing havoc around Elizabeth's sprawling plantation estate. But when the supposed ghost—the stepson of Elizabeth's dead husband—turns up truly dead in Elizabeth's house, suspicion of foul play falls on her. Especially when the cause of death is a poisoned glass of a traditional after-dinner drink called syllabub taken from Elizabeth's own private batch.

The stepson had enemies to spare. But why was he roaming the old house? What was he searching for? To find the truth, Ellen and Aunt Mary will have to expose two hundred years of grudges and face dangers that are very much alive.

The fifth book of the Ellen McKenzie Mystery series.