When his wife's friend, Rachel, writes to tell of the peculiar murder of a young woman in her sleepy market town, Dr. David Wintringham is intrigued enough to leave his usual top secret medical work for Her Majesty's Government to pay a visit to Shornford, where the local police are struggling to make sense of events. Together with Inspector Staines of the local constabulary, he tries to unravel the curious case of Ursula Frinton and why anyone would want her dead. As David is slowly pulled into a web of intrigue that stretches far beyond Wakeley Manor, Shornford, and its inhabitants, what started out as a flight of curiosity becomes a fight for a much larger truth, and death waits around every corner.