When the warden of St Serf's is found dead in the almshouse garden, Gil is asked to look into his death. The warden appears to have been killed on the previous night, but there are those who are convinced he was present at that morning's service. The elderly residents, the almshouse nurse, and Humphrey, her deranged favorite, have been set against one another by the dead man's scheming. And then there is the discarded mistress and almshouse ghost to consider. Tracing the dead man's last movements between the Cathedral precinct and the shores of the Clyde, Gil Cunningham is both helped and hindered by his two sisters who have come to Glasgow for his wedding to Alys. An uncanny event, followed by the arrival of Gil's godfather, precipitates the crisis.