There hadn’t been a murder in Chedcombe in over a hundred years until someone poisoned old Mrs. Randall. Her servants revealed that at Christmas the old lady argued with her grandson Hugo. Her solicitors testified that on Boxing Day she cut Hugo out of her will and made her penniless godchild, Fran Gifford, her sole heir. The local constabulary noted that on New Year’s Eve someone made Mrs. Randall a hot toddy spiked with deadly foxglove. Fran Gifford was in custody the next afternoon. Just two days before trial, Antony Maitland took the case for the defense. But as soon as Maitland started hunting about for new evidence, a shot in the dark made this case the most difficult test yet of his courtroom skills… and his ability to stay alive.