Tessa Fields, left on the vicar's doorstep twenty-one years ago, is determined to uncover her true origins. It's a mystery she's certain can be solved in the quaint village of Flaxby Meade and in the company of two elderly ladies: Misses Hyacinth and Primrose Tramwell.

With the reluctant assistance of her secret love, Harry Harkness, Tessa hits upon a scheme that finds her feigning amnesia and recovering in the Tramwell's ansestral home, Cloisters. But it isn't long before Tessa smells a rat. Why does Butler, the butler, creep around in his socks, and what was he doing in her closet? How does Chantal, the sensual and elusive maid, know all about Tessa—and even more about Harry? And why are these little old ladies so friendishly good at cards?

It soon becomes apparent that the game being played out in this proper English town isn't poker or whist—it's murder. And with the deck stacked against her, Tessa must unmask the perpetrator before she's dealt a fatal hand.