Invited to spend a seaside vacation with her ex-husband, James Lacey, at a rundown town called Snoth-on-Sea, Agatha Raisin becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a woman staying at the same hotel and is forced to step in to find the real culprit.

Agatha Raisin thinks she's in for a treat when her ex-husband, James Lacey, invites her on a holiday. But to her horror, his idea of an exotic destination is a small, rundown resort of Snoth-on-Sea. Needless to say, the break doesn't go as planned. When a fellow guest in their hotel is found murdered, Agatha herself becomes a suspect--and it looks as if she will be solving this particular case from the confines of a prison cell.