Agatha Raisin's latest plan to catch bachelor James Lacey is to take up gardening and enter the prestigious Carsley Horticultural Contest. Unfortunately, a hard freeze kills all of her seedlings just as her former assistant, Roy, arrives to persuade her to return to work at the PR agency. He promises to restore her garden, but, as the contest approaches, the plants are mysteriously being uprooted, poisoned, and burned, as are plants in gardens throughout the Cotswold town where she lives. When the prime suspect, a beautiful blond newcomer named Mary Fortune, who has her eye on James, turns up murdered in a particularly nasty way, he and Agatha must put aside their differences to solve the puzzle.

"Compare this one to lemon meringue pie: light...with a delicious hint of tartness at its heart." (Washington Times)