The Duck & Trumpet is the most peaceful pub in Little Gravely-except on quiz night, when rival teams have been known to hurl coasters and the occasional pickled egg. But tranquillity is shattered when the universally disliked Council Treasurer, Malcolm Nettlefold, drops dead face-first into his shepherd's pie. The police blame a heart attack.The locals blame the chef's cooking.But the pub's formidable owner, Doris "Duckie" Pemberton, suspects murder-largely because someone has stolen her best gravy ladle and absolutely nobody steals from Duckie and gets away with it. With the help of: a retired librarian who reads people like overdue notices, a conspiracy-obsessed farmer convinced the ducks are spying, and an off-duty vicar who keeps confessing to crimes he didn't commit, Duckie mounts her own investigation. And the more she pokes into village secrets, the more dangerous everything becomes-because someone in Little Gravely will kill to keep the truth hidden.