Eva is delighted that her sister is coming to visit, but then Alice shows up without her husband and three children—and starts spending time with a former beau, Keenan Ripley, who owns the nearby pear orchard. When Keenan's brother Stephen is found impaled, the police suspect his closest kin; Stephen had been eager to sell their orchard, but Keenan had fiercely resisted. Keenan certainly looks guilty, and Alice is mixed up in it, too. Set in 1920s England, this fifth outing (after A Murderous Marriage) puts Eva in a bind, trying to save her sister's honor and keep her out of jail.