Ealing: August 1814



Detective Stephen Lavender's wife and children are spending a glorious summer in the picturesque village of Ealing. When the vicar's wife is poisoned, Lavender is asked to review the case. He soon realizes something rotten is festering at the heart of this rural idyll.



Convinced the wrong man has been arrested and the killer is still at large, Lavender is also disturbed to discover someone is sending the local gentry vile letters containing outrageous accusations. Could the same hand that drips such poison from their quill also have administered that fatal dose of arsenic?



Fortunately, Constable Ned Woods and his family are visiting nearby Brentford to solve a perplexing family mystery of their own. When the body of a second woman is found, Lavender seeks Woods' help to unravel the tangled web of lies and deceit spun by the killer.



Distracted by these crimes, the two men are unaware of the sinister danger stalking their own children—until it's almost too late. But help comes from an unlikely source, bringing with it resolution to a question that has haunted Woods since childhood and reminding Lavender that family must always come first.