The last thing recently widowed Julia Probyn expects to find on the lush and charming island of Madeira is a clue to her husband's mysterious death, for Colonel Jamieson perished somewhere in the wilds of Central Asia while on a top-secret mission for British Intelligence. No sooner does Julia arrive at Madeira with her infant son and his devoted Nanny, however, than a series of strange, sinister, but apparently unconnected events begin to occur.

Suspecting a Cold War plot, Julia summons her cousin, Colin Munro, and together they might just be able to blow the entire Russian scheme wide open.

The Malady in Madeira, book seven in the Julia Probyn Mysteries, is a high adventure interwoven with all the sights, sounds and scenes of fecund Madeira.