Lower lngleford seems a typical rural hamlet in the sunlit uplands of northern England, complete with Village Institute, village green, and lord of the manor. But something is seriously amiss: milking equipment explodes; brakes are tampered with; bullets fly - someone is trying to kill the squire. Or so it seems. And the motives are tangled in a morass of shady property deals, art forgeries, and various dubious business practices. When Kendal Sartain, local landowner and apparent target, calls on Penny Wanawake for help, he gets it. And rather more than he'd bargained for. Six feet, 1261bs, Bovril-black, rich, beautiful and totally uninhibited - when Penny seeks a solution, there is nowhere for a solution, however timid and retiring, to hide.