Take one precocious eleven-year-old girl called Flavia. Add an ancientcountry house somewhere in England in 1950. Then sprinkle with murder,mystery and dark family secrets... For very-nearly-eleven-year-old Flaviade Luce, the discovery of a dead snipe on the doorstep of Buckshaw, thecrumbling de Luce country seat, was a marvellous mystery - especiallysince this particular snipe had a rather rare stamp neatly impaled on itsbeak. Even more astonishing was the effect of the dead bird on herstamp-collector father, who appeared to be genuinely frightened.Soon Flavia discovers something even more shocking in the cucumber patchand it's clear that the snipe was a bird of very ill omen indeed. As thepolice descend on Buckshaw, Flavia decides it is up to her to piecetogether the clues and solve the puzzle. Who was the man she heard herfather arguing with? What was the snipe doing in England at all? Who orwhat is the Ulster Avenger? And, most peculiar of all, who took a slice ofMrs Mullet's unspeakable custard pie that had been cooling by thewindow...?