Monica Noble and her husband Graham, the local vicar, are invited to participate in a high-flyng ecclesiastical conference being held at a swanky hotel in their village. During the Saturday night dinner, the ambitious female cleric Celia Gordon tragically dies, seemingly of a peanut allegery. But when Chief Superintendent Jason Dury arrives on the scene he quickly discovers that it's a case of murder. Monica's husband seems to be firmly on the suspect list, amongst others, including an eminent bishop, an archdeacon viciously opposed to female clergy, and his wife, the curator of a local museum, who is definitely up to something. But if Monica is to find out who killed Celia, and free her husband from suspicion, she must grapple with a very ruthless - and increasingly desperate - killer, putting herself and those around her in ever increasing danger.