Though Agatha Raisin loathes amateur theatre, her friend Mrs. Bloxby has persuaded her to support the local pantomime troupe, in this 25th cozy in the series (following Something Borrowed, Someone Dead). Agatha watches the town baker strut and thunder onstage as the Ogre—"Fee, fie, fo, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!"—until a trapdoor opens and he disappears in an impressive puff of smoke. Only the man doesn't re-appear at final curtain. When it turns out the popular baker has been murdered, Agatha and her team of private eyes discover there is more savagery and drama to be found in this community company than on the West End stage.