Cotswolds inhabitants are used to inclement weather, but
the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly
Devere, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home
from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt.
They 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. Margaret Darby, 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 Sumpton
Harcourt is a small and private village, she finds—a
place that poses more questions than answers. And when
two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear
for her reputation—and even her life. That the village
has its own coven of witches certainly doesn't make her
feel any better...