When a local woman tells Sergeant Hamish Macbeth that she doesn't remember what happened the previous evening, he doesn't begin to worry. She had been out drinking, after all, and he'd prefer not to be bothered with such an arrogant and annoying woman. But when her body is discovered, Hamish is forced to investigate a crime that the only known witness --- now dead --- had forgotten.

Agatha has her eye on the local gardener, George Marston, and will do anything to get her man --- including footing the bill for a charity ball just for the chance to dance with him. And then George doesn't even show up. Only partly deterred, Agatha goes looking for him, and finds his dead body in a compost heap. Murder is definitely afoot, but this killer chose no ordinary weapon: A poisonous snake delivered the fatal strike.

Attempting to lure tourists to a sleepy Scottish town, a tourist director renames the local woods “The Fairy Glen.” But when heartbreaking acts of vandalism begin plaguing the forest, Hamish Macbeth investigates --- and the case turns from animal cruelty to murder.

Agatha Raisin accompanies her former protegée and current rival in the private detection racket, Toni, to a pig roasting. But as the rotary spit is placed over a bed of fiery charcoals and the pig is carried toward its final resting place, Agatha realizes that things are not as they seem....

Agatha Raisin’s detective agency is investigating the murder of John Sunday of the Health and Safety Board. But when a man has made as many enemies as Sunday, it’s hard to know where to start.

Police Constable Hamish Macbeth must discover who's responsible for a double murder --- and this time, the killer may be closer than he realizes.