Options for the penniless daughter of a deceased earl are few in Regency England, so following the death of her father, the Earl of Morton, and the discovery that she and her much younger sister have been left without income or home, Lady Caroline takes a post as a lady's companion to the wealthy widow Frogerton. Her aunt, Lady Eleanor Greenwood, invites Caroline and her employer to a house party in the countryside to celebrate her youngest daughter’s birthday. Mrs. Matilda (Matty) Frogerton sees this as an opportunity to introduce her own rather wild daughter, Dorothy, to the ton. After a series of troubling harassments of the staff, an elderly family member is found stabbed by a knitting needle. Caroline and Matty discover the culprit may be leaving bizarre clues as to who will be next. - adapted from jacket