Darina Lisle is lunching at the Hotel Morgan - nicknamed Hotel Morgue for its dilapidated condition - when she seizes the chance to save the dying West Country hotel from ruin. William Pigram cannot believe she is serious and, as the hotel takes up more and more of her time, begins to regret ever inviting her to lunch there. But Detective Sergeant Pigram is soon distracted by the murder of a local waitress and by the arrival of a new recruit, in the petite form of Detective-Constable Pat James. Darina sets about turning the Hotel Morgan into a hive of activity and soon she has it fully booked...

The Society of Historical Gastronomes is gathering for a weekend symposium on food from the past. Darina Lisle has been asked to cater for the occasion and has prepared a multitude of exquisite dishes - from salmagundis to a deepe coffyn - culled from ancient recipe books. But when the chairman is found stabbed to death with a boning knife, the professional pique of the attendant foodies takes on a more sinister meaning. Discarded lovers, jealous colleagues and a plagiarised author have good reason to resent the victim's success. Darina, too, is under suspicion and determines to clear her...

Canaletto is commissioned by the Duke of Beaufort to paint Badminton, his Gloucestershire seat. Canaletto is delighted to leave London as he fears a smallpox epidemic. He is less delighted to be enlisted as a spy by William Pitt, Paymaster General. There is a danger Prince Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, could be visiting his old friend, the Duke, to enlist his support for another attempt to restore the Stuarts to the throne. There is the threat of civil war. Canaletto and his apprentice, Fanny, arrive in Gloucestershire to find that Bonnie Prince Charlie is not the only danger. Arson...