Mr. Wickstead has died under a tree limb. The villagers are certain that his death had to do with a treasure he dug up last spring. But why was he in the wood on a frigid night? And what of the claw marks on the limb? And what was that treasure? As per usual, the town's animals know more than the Big Folk. And only Pickles, Wickstead's fox terrier, knows exactly what happened. It's up to amateur sleuth Beatrix Potter to help the denizens of Sawrey, human and animal, solve the little matter of murder.