When wealthy, cultured Irene Finney and her four grown-up children arrive at the Manoir Bellechasse in the heat of summer for a memorial for her late husband, the staff springs into action. But as a heat wave gathers strength, old secrets and bitter rivalries begin to surface. And the morning after the ceremony, a body is found. The family now has another member to mourn.

A guest at the hotel, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, suddenly finds himself in the middle of a murder enquiry, and the hotel is full of possible suspects.