Since 1932 finds her employers—author Agatha Christie and archaeologist Max Mallowan—off on another trip, Phyllida, the housekeeper at Mallowan Hall, is free to respond to an urgent call on behalf of Emily Hartparker, whose wedding dress no longer fits properly because her Indian nuptials two months ago to Dr. John Bhatt were swiftly followed by another family development that’s welcome but awkwardly premature. Finding some material to insert in the seams of Emily’s dress calms the newlywed’s fears and prepares her for the obligatory English ceremony, which goes off without a hitch despite the presence of actor Heath Blanton, the great-nephew of Emily’s widowed aunt, Lady Artemis Coatesworth, along with both Lily Wentworth and Tibby Blanton, Heath’s first and second wives. It’s not until several hours after the final vows that Lily’s beau, overbearing Lincoln Yates, is clubbed to death by a candlestick in the Coatesworth chapel. Serenely confident in her detecting chops, Phyllida ignores Scotland Yard’s Inspector Cork and circulates among the guests, plying them with questions under the dubious authority of Lady Artemis, who’d sighed, “If only there’d be a murder that I could investigate!” Though Phyllida’s efforts aren’t enough to prevent a second murder, her famous boss, kept offstage for most of the story, turns up just in time to provide some helpful insights, help rescue a third intended victim, and announce that one of her own finest whodunits, whose title Cambridge’s own broadly hints at, will be based on the case.