Welcome to the beautiful English village of Inkbury. Tucked deep in the North Wessex Downs its only claim to fame is the picturesque riverside that once appeared in a Richard Curtis movie. That is until the murder. . . Former stand-up comic Juno Mulligan has been suffering a serious sense-of-humour failure. Not only has she lost the love of her life but she's having to relocate to the (admittedly idyllic) village of Inkbury to watch out for her elderly mother who she's genuinely worried might be marrying a wife-killer. She hopes that her old friend disgraced-journalist-turned-novelist Phoebe Fredericks can help her crack the case of whether her mother's perma-tanned iceberg-smiled three-times-a-widower fiancé is hiding a murderous past. But before they have a chance the local art dealer washes up distinctly dead in the village's famous river. His lover is in the frame but Juno and Phoebe suspect that there is a deeper secret. . . One that relates to Phoebe's own past and Juno's present. Will the unofficial Village Detective Agency solve the mystery before the killer strikes again? In sleepy Inkbury as they soon discover living one's best midlife can be murder.