The eighth book in the series finds John Pickett bound for England's scenic Lake District, where an unsigned letter has summoned him for an unspecified reason. Posing as a honeymoon couple, Pickett and his wife Julia, the former Lady Fieldhurst, take a room at the Hart and Hound as the letter instructs him. Once installed there, however, Pickett can do nothing but wait for the anonymous contact to identify himself. A midnight search of the inn's register seems to identify the innkeeper, Ned Hawkins, as his man, but before Pickett can discover the reason for his summons, Hawkins is pushed from a cliff-surviving the fall only long enough to call Pickett's attention to the letter in his pocket.With his contact dead and his only clue a letter containing nothing more than a rambling account of family news, Pickett knows he's on his own. But that isn't the worst of his problems: Julia saw the crime being committed, and although she can't identify the murderer, there is every indication that the killer knows he was seen-and intends to eliminate any possible witnesses.Amidst a quirky cast of characters including a host of holiday-makers, a bucolic love triangle, an aspiring poet in the Romantic vein, and an old friend of his magistrate, Mr. Colquhoun, Pickett must discover the secret behind that urgent summons before a second, and far more personal, murder is committed.