Visiting Lovegrove Priory with her brother and niece, Charlotte Tyler is enchanted by their hostess, Amelia Denby, writer of sensational Gothic novels. Miss Denby's eccentricity extends to the grounds of her country house where she has established a hermitage, sheltering a mysterious character with a tragic past. When the hermit is found shot dead suspicions turn on the house party, and a further death suggests that one of them is guilty. The local magistrate enlists Charlotte's help in his investigation of the deaths to ensure the rest of the party are not picked off one by one.