Seduced by the spring sunshine, PI Phyllida Moon takes an uncharacteristic risk and goes out shopping in Seaminster – for once with no disguise. Just as she hands over a repair to the owner of the local jewellers, two armed robbers enter the shop and in the ensuing panic the owner is shot dead, the assistant flees without trace, and Phyllida’s personal information and address, written on a pad by the jewwller before the burglary, is taken.

Shocked – and paranoid that her real identity has been uncovered – Phyllida takes refuge in the Golden Lion hotel. DCS Kendrick begins to suspect that the robbery was a cover-up for the owner’s murder. So, he employs the services of the Peter Piper Detective Agency – in particular PI Phyllida Moon – in order to infiltrate and befriend the mourning family and try to get a better idea of why the jeweller was murdered.