Lord Bellington, Carsley's biggest landholder, has enraged locals with his plans to sell off their allotments to make way for a new housing development. So when he turns up dead, nobody mourns his passing. On another fine summer's day, Agatha visits Carsley's allotments where she is introduced to three old-timers who have just taken over a new strip : Harry Perry, Bunty Daventry and Josephine Merriweather, who are lamenting the neglected condition of the patch.
But as Harry starts to shovel, his spade comes across something hard... The body is that of Peta Currie, a newcomer to the village - but who would want to murder her ? Blonde and beautiful, she's everyone's favourite. And then Lord Bellington's son engages Agatha to do some digging of her own, throwing Agatha into a world of petty feuds, jealousies and disputes over land. It would seem that far from being tiny gardens of Eden, Carsley's allotments are local battlefields where passions - and the bodycount - run high !
