Flavia de Luce applies her skills in the chemistry lab to solving the murder of a master puppeteer, a case that is further complicated by her tormenting sisters.

When the tomb of St. Tancred is opened at a village church in Bishop's Lacey, its shocking contents lead to another case for Flavia de Luce, where greed, pride, and murder result in old secrets coming to light.

In the small English town of Bishop's Lacey, the chapel is decked with exotic flowers. Flavia's sister Ophelia is at last getting hitched, like a mule to a wagon. Flavia and Dogger, the estate gardener and sounding board extraordinaire, have set up shop at the once-grand mansion of Buckshaw, eager to become professional sleuths. Little does she know that their first case will begin with an unwelcome discovery in Ophelia's wedding cake: a human finger.--...

Colonel de Luce, in desperate need of funds, rents his beloved estate of Buckshaw over to a film company. They will be shooting a movie over the Christmas holidays, filming scenes in the stately manse with a famous and reclusive star. She is widely despised, so it is to no one's surprise when she turns up murdered.

In the wake of an unthinkable family tragedy, Flavia is struggling to fill her empty days. Dogger, the loyal family servant, suggests a boating trip for Flavia and her two older sisters. As their punt drifts past the church where a notorious vicar had recently dispatched three of his female parishioners by spiking their communion wine with cyanide, something grazes Flavia's fingers as she dangles them in the water. In her grip is a human head, attached...