Agatha Raisin's plans for a perfect Christmas and a reunion with her ex-boyfriend James Lacey must be put on the back burner whenshe is hired by a wealthy widow who believes a member of her family is trying to kill her--a case that become more complicated when the old lady drops dead at high tea.

The villagers in the north of Scotland rely on the services of the itinerant sweep, Pete Ray. Pete is always able to find work in the highlands, until one day when Police Constable Hamish Macbeth notices blood dripping onto the floor of a villager's fireplace, and a dead body stuffed inside the chimney. The entire town of Lochdubh is certain Pete is the culprit, but Hamish doesn't believe that the affable chimney sweep is capable of committing murder....

Bossy, impulsive, yet hopelessly romantic, Agatha is dreading the upcoming marriage of her ex-husband, James Lacey. Her best intentions to move on with her life are put on hold when James's young bride is shot to death just minutes before saying I do

Lady Rose Summer, the wayward Edwardian debutante who keeps getting mixed up in disreputable adventures, would swear she is not a jealous woman. After all, she knows her engagement to private detective Captain Harry Cathcart is only a ploy to keep her parents from shipping her off to India. But then Harry's latest client, Dolores Duval-a vision of curves with a seductive French accent-starts appearing everywhere at his side. In a fit of rage, Rose...

Highlands constable Hamish Macbeth's content life is disrupted by the murder of a visiting artist, the return of his old girlfriend, and a ruthless killer stalking the local citizens.

"Scottish policeman Hamish Macbeth is charged with investigating the death of a maid struck down by a bucket of water"--Provided by the publisher.