When friends Maggie and Carol disappear while on a seaside jaunt, their husbands turn to the Peter Piper Detective Agency for help. But the missing persons case suddenly turns deadly serious: a resident's complain of scavenging foxes leads to the remains of the two women on a wooded roundabout in the small coastal town of Seaminster. Phyllida Moon, actress and private eye, is sent to investigate. Her impenetrable disguises win her unique entry into the lives of the victims' family and friends. And gradually she begins to suspect that Carol's daughter, Sally, knows more than she is prepared to...

Even before Tim Le Page and his new wife, Anna, can leave for their honeymoon, he is called back to investigate an attempted murder. But this is no ordinary case, the victim is Tim's mother.
Drifting from one lover to another, Lorna has never been the maternal type and, as a result, she has made more than her fair share of enemies.
In particular, Tim can't help feeling that Simon, the latest escort to materialise at Lorna's side, is too young even for his glamorous mother. But if Simon isn't interested in Lorna, then what is he doing in Guernsey?
With professional detachment...