This is the 30th in the Pitkirtly Mysteries series.

In the darkness of an icy morning in Pitkirtly, Kyle Prestonfield makes a dreadful discovery. The repercussions spread from the Prestonfields' home in a quiet street in the small town of Pitkirtly, to his work at the Cultural Centre and beyond. Amaryllis interferes, despite some bumbling attempts by Christopher to stop her, and it is only by piecing together several apparently unrelated snippets of information that she sees the whole picture at last. Meanwhile, as the search goes on for a reliable joiner, Mairead McLeod comes to grief on the ice and Kyle's friends and colleagues consume even more doughnuts than usual.