Duntisbourne Abbots is a timeless and quintessentially English village nestled in the fertile hills of the Cotswolds in peaceful Gloucestershire. Recently widowed Thea Osbourne fears three weeks house-sitting there may prove a little dull, but her first night's sleep at Brook View is broken by a piercing scream. She assures herself it was only a fox and nothing more sinister, but then a body turns up...

When Joel Jennison is found slaughtered in the same field where his brother's corpse had lain ten weeks previously, a whole community falls under suspicion. As a forty-something woman with no experience of detective work, she knows she shouldn't get involved, but in questioning neighbours Thea uncovers more tragedy and intrigue than she thought possible.