A mystery writer, the redoubtable Rosebud Maud Tubbly Pole comes to Molehill. With the vicar's help, she plans to use the unsolved murder of the woman in her new novel. She sees the church belfry as one setting. Unfortunately, the vicar had stored Ingaza's packages there. To his horror, when he moves them, he discovers they are two valuable stolen paintings.

As the vicar struggles to avoid discovery first as a murderer and second as an accessory to art theft, he makes matter worse, much worse. Desperate, he even enlists the aid of his artist sister Primrose, but she inadvertently creates a major problem for him when she places one painting in the same frame, but concealed behind one of her own. The bishop's redoubtable wife buys some of Primrose's paintings and discovers it, but does not recognize its value. She offers it for the jumble sale at a nearby church.

No murders occur; rather the mystery focuses on the efforts of the vicar and his intelligent pets to escape apprehension. Both the cat Maurice and the dog Bouncer do their share in extricating the vicar. Bouncer quotes apropos Latin phrases he finds on tombs in the church crypt. Maurice dismisses Bouncer's intuition, but it proves surprisingly accurate.

Broad humor enlivens the novel from the names of characters and places to the dialogue and trenchant observations. Fans of cozy English mysteries will enjoy the setting and characters in Bones in the Belfrey, a humorous tribute to Agatha Christie and other British mystery writers. A cliffhanger ending provides scope for a sequel.