The following announcement appeared in the Salterton Evening Bellman: "Professor and Mrs Walter Vambrace are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter, Pearl Veronica, to Solomon Bridgetower Esq, son of..."

Although the malice that prompted this false engagement notice was aimed at three people only - Solly Bridgetower, Pearl Vambrace, and Gloster Ridley, the anxiety-ridden local newspaper editor - before the leaven of malice had ceased to work it had changed permanently, for good or ill, the lives of many citizens of Salterton.

This is the second novel in The Salterton Trilogy (which also includes TEMPEST-TOST and A MIXTURE OF FRAILTIES).