Mrs. Beatrice Lestrange Bradley, a renowned psychoanalyst and detective, has a penchant for making the most unusual acquaintances in the most unlikely places. While attending a conference in Holland, Mrs. Bradley meets the lively Binnie Colwyn-Welch. The newly engaged girl introduces the detective to her relations, the eccentric offspring of three overlapping family lines. And that's when the mystery begins. Binnie's family is rife with conflict, not the least of which is caused by her handsome, troublemaker brother, Florian. Shortly after a portrait of the stunning-yet-cruel Florian is completed -- including a study of the young man's hand holding a delft-blue hyacinth -- the lothario goes missing. And who better than the indomitable Mrs. Bradley to follow the trail...all the way to a murder.
From the shores of the Netherlands to the caves of Derbyshire, the beloved Mrs. Bradley delights in this brilliant, classic mystery.