Mystery writer Harriet Vane attends her Oxford reunion, known as the "Gaudy". But the festivities are haunted by a series of ghastly warnings which threaten murder. Soon Harriet and her paramour, Lord Peter Wimsey, find themselves ensnared in a nightmare of terror.

"The road to hell is paved with all sorts of intentions, as Oxford private investigator Zö Boehm discovers when a straightforward jewelry store robbery turns out to be anything but. When Tim Whitby checks into a hotel in Oxford, he doesn't intend to check out again--but then he meets Katrina Blake, a woman in dire need of help. When Arkle, Baxter and Trent inherit the family business, they aren't planning to keep it running; there are quicker ways...

Harriet Vane's Oxford reunion is shadowed by a rash of bizarre pranks and malicious mischief that include beautifully worded death threats, burnt effigies and vicious poison-pen letters, and Harriet finds herself and Lord Peter Wimsey challenged by an elusive set of clues.