Simmy Brown had hoped that her autumn would be less frantic than usual to give her a chance to enjoy her pregnancy, her upcoming nuptials, and some time looking for a new house in the Patterdale area of the Lake District. But it is not to be .

Simmy’s ideas of a quiet run-up to Christmas are cruelly dashed when one of the lodgers at her parents’ B&B dies in her arms after seemingly being poisoned. It is clear the victim had some connection to a controversial new building project near Patterdale, and Simmy soon becomes embroiled in a complex investigation, headed up by her friend DI Moxon, as the nights grow darker and a killer roams free.