When her parents die from fever, Lady Sarah Montgomery Baird Watson-Wentworth has to leave India, a land she was born and raised in, and travel to England for the first time. Finding it almost impossible to adjust to London society, Sarah flees to the county of Cheshire and the country estate of Grangeback that borders the village of Stickleback Hollow. A place filled with oddballs, eccentrics and more suspicious characters than you can shake a stick at, Sarah feels more at home in the sleepy little village than she ever did in the big city; however, even sleepy little villages have mysteries that must be solved.
When Old Woakes is found dead in his home, the village of Stickleback Hollow finds itself rocked to its very foundations - especially when more bodies start to fall. With foul murder afoot, all evidence points to Lady Sarah as the culprit.
Is Lady Sarah responsible for the brutal murders she stands accused or can Constable Evans and Mr. Hunter find another explanation for the murders before Lady Sarah is marched to the gallows?