The authorities and townspeople question who would kill the affable and generous Pengriffon. By all accounts, this talented painter didn't have a single enemy. Was this a murder of passion, or a cold-blooded premeditated crime? As Ford sifts through the shattered remnants of his lordship's life, he finds conflicting clues and shadowy motives leading to vaguely possible suspects, but no hard evidence.

Ford races into the investigation at breakneck speed, determined to crack the case in record time so he can return to his idyllic honeymoon, but the solution remains obstinately hidden. Or could the murdered man himself have left behind the one vital missing clue?