A later book, where Alleyn, Troy and their young son Ricky are in France partly on holiday, partly for Alleyn to investigate the goings on at a specific Château, where the authorities believe there is a major drug ring going on.

Travelling through by train, one of their fellow passengers is taken ill, allowing Alleyn to gain access to the château where one of the residents is a well known doctor. All three of the Alleyns remain in town, with Miss Truebody as a cover, and allows Alleyn further access to the place.

It soon becomes clear that there is something not right with the place, including some very cultish behaviour and some drug taking. Alleyn's cover is almost blown several times by people who know either him or Troy, but he gets away with it. A young Ricky (about 5 I would guess) gets kidnapped and rescued. Inspector Fox's absence is countered by the presence of the useful Raoul, who gets involved in the denouement at the end.

Nice to have a change from New Zealand or England as a setting, even if the majority of people are English. ( )

DCI Alleyn is seconded to the French police and sent to the south of France to investigate drug smuggling. His wife and son accompany him. He finds a mysterious coven of witches who are up to no good. It's an adventure that comes to a satisfying conclusion. Alleyn is in fine form. There's plenty of action set in the French countryside with several interesting characters. A good read for Marsh fans. ( )

Summary: Alleyn takes his family along to visit a distant cousin in southern France while collaborating with the French in investigating a drug ring.

The lesson of this story may be not to mix work and pleasure, particularly if your work is as a Chief Inspector at Scotland Yard. Alleyn is on assignment with the French police to bring down an international drug operation. Before he can even reach his destination, two things happen that get wrapped into the plot. He and Troy both witness what appears to be a murder of in a chateau immediately opposite where the train stopped before entering a tunnel. Ricky, their son, is still sleeping. Then they learn an unaccompanied elderly woman, Miss Truebody, has come down with acute appendicitis. When they reach Rocqueville, there destination, they learn the only available doctor (since the others are at a conference) is an Egyptian doctor Baradi, residing at the chateau.

Alleyn learns that authorities think the chateau is the center of the drug operation, which uses a nearby chemical factory. Taking Miss Truebody there gives him an in, particularly because he had experience administering anesthesia in the war and is needed. He learns that the chateau is the center of a weird cult led by M. Oberon, who likes to parade naked in their ceremonies. The guests are mostly elite socialites and actors, many with, or who will soon acquire, drug habits. Marsh devotes several of her stories to plots involving drugs–clearly something of which she did not approve and it’s apparent in her treatment of the characters.

Alleyn and hia family arouse suspicion even though they are unsure of his identity, and Ricky is kidnapped to keep them out of the way, and plays a key role in helping break the case. Alleyn’s young and dashing driver becomes his right hand man both as they recover Ricky and help bust the drug cult/ring.

The title? There are three spinsters in jeopardy in this story and one is the apparent murder victim seen in the window by the Alleyns. Along the way, Raoul’s girlfriend Therese gets caught up in kidnapping Ricky but then plays a key role in assisting Alleyn and Raoul. Alleyn’s complicated schemes depend on his French counterpart showing up when needed. Troy pitches in by persuading a young woman not to return to the chateau and helps her and her young man recognize their love is more important than a crazy cult.

It’s all a bit madcap and out of the ordinary for an Alleyn mystery. One might object to Ricky being placed in the middle of this, but I recall that Marsh is not alone in using this device, which Elizabeth Peters uses to great effect with Ramses, Amelia’s son. It would be great to see Raoul and Alleyn team up again. But if not, then this was good fun! ( )

An icky Svengali dude and his entourage have taken over a chateau in the small French village of Roqueville, and for some reason (never properly explained) Inspector Alleyn has been called upon to assist with the Surete's investigation of just what-all they may be up to. Drugs, is what. Getting susceptible young people (mostly young women) hooked on marijuana through a mish-mash of pagan ritual culminating in some sort of "sacrifice" to Swami (sexual, of course--and there's a goat) ...and all this to somehow cover up that what they are doing in a nearby abandoned factory is manufacturing and distributing massive amounts of hashish and heroin...yeah, it's that ridiculous. I have never understood the cult mentality, first of all, so right away I don't get it. I loved Alleyn's interaction with his wife and child, and there's a fair bit of humor, dark and otherwise, woven in. But none of the rest of it worked for me at all. ( )

I had good memories of this book, and was looking forward to coming to it in the series re-read. Sadly, I found that the prejudices of the time spoiled much of this book for me. The casually racism and misogyny I expected. However, there was a scene where some weird pseudo "Pagan" rites were described. Although I could tell that the character who described them was outraged, I was almost amused to note that the description, for the most part, could be applied to a High Church Episcopal service with equal accuracy. It was very odd. I also was saddened by the bias and inaccuracy of the descriptions of marijuana, and also the lack of strength that Troy has in this volume. It's as though Ms. Marsh feels that through marriage and children, Troy is now weakened. ( )