Everyone in the small seaside village of Taviscombe is looking forward to the festival. So is Mrs. Sheila Malory-that is, until the unpleasant Adrian Palgrove joins the planning committee. Mrs. Malory, an avid reader of nineteenth century literature, is dismayed to find the man constantly in her path. First Adrian gleefully informs her that he has been appointed executor of the estate of a renowned author, whose private life he intends to expose....

In England, the dean of a cathedral is poisoned while having tea. Suspicion centers on his wife, who had to put up with his affairs, and on a brother wanting to sell family property which the dean opposed. Or did his death have something to do with church finances? Mrs. Malory, a friend of the family, investigates.