M.C. Beaton meets Miss Marple in the second book in the charming Laetitia Rodd Mysteries, which sees Kate Saunders' Victorian lady detective on the hunt for a missing Oxford scholar who is soon to be the heir to a fortune It is 1851 and Laetitia Rodd is enjoying a well-earned holiday when she receives an urgent request for her services. Wealthy businessman Jacob Welland implores Mrs. Rodd to find his beloved brother, a brilliant Oxford scholar who took to wandering the countryside and one day simply failed to return. The last sighting was in a gypsy camp ten years before - where it was rumoured he was learning great secrets that would one day astound the world. Mrs. Rodd travels to Oxford and begins her search for the wandering scholar.

But as the investigation unfolds, she discovers something sinister is lurking in this peaceful landscape.