Sergeant Hamish Macbeth returns to protect his sleepy Scottish village of Lochdubh in the latest mystery in M.C. Beaton’s beloved, New York Times bestselling series.

It is February in Lochdubh and a cold spell with rain and sleet keep Hamish and Davey more than busy. And for Hamish’s partner Claire, who is a paramedic, getting to emergency call-outs often requires the help of Hamish and either a local authority snowplow or a farmer with a tractor that can clear the snow. At times like these, the local communities on Hamish’s patch pull together.

But then an influx of outsiders has come to Lochdubh for a Valentine’s Day wedding at the Tommel Castle Hotel. The perfect wedding, however, begins to go off the rails in the days preceding the ceremony when the groom, Darius Palmerston, is involved in a series of incidents in the local pub. Hamish is most definitely of the opinion that the obnoxious Palmerston is far from the suave, sophisticated character he appears to be.

The wedding goes ahead as planned and the residents of Lochdubh are ready for the visitors to take their leave. That is until the groom is discovered dead in the dining room, the cake-cutting sword plunged into his chest.

Hamish is going to need to sort through the tension between the locals and outsiders to untangle who the murderer is. Was it one of the wedding party who objected to the union? Or one of Hamish's own residents?