In the run up to May Day, Pearl's detective agency finds itself taking on a curious case: someone has been stealing underwear from washing lines. The victims, all local women with nothing in common other than a taste for fine underwear, have clubbed together to enlist Pearl's services since the local police seem unable to help. Pearl seeks out Canterbury DCI Mike McGuire on the pretext of discussing surveillance equipment but the true reason is that...

Pearl receives a surprise present from her mother: an early summer break at a riverside manor house that has been recently transformed into an exclusive hotel. The building lies on the old Pilgrims Way into Canterbury, and Pearl is looking forward to the break. But when she discovers that she's actually booked in for a cookery course from the Italian celebrity chef Nico Caruso, she begins to think again... Pearl doesn't welcome instruction on cookery...