Driving home from a dinner party in the village of Sumpton Harcourt, Rory and Molly Harris, the new vicar and his wife, strain to see the road ahead - and then suddenly brake, screeching to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights, a body hangs from a gnarled tree at the edge of town.
An elderly spinster has been murdered - and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime.
Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion, a little glad for the excitement, to tell the truth, after a long run of lost cats and divorces on the books. But when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation - and even her life. The village is a small and very private place, she finds. It even has its own coven of witches.