1961. London florist Felix Smythe and close friend Professor Cedric Dillworthy are Suffolk-bound once more. But their hopes of a trouble-free visit are dashed by the gruesome murder of a highly respected resident - an event which seems to be linked with the bizarre killing in Cambridge of a cleric with murky proclivities.

Along with nosy Cambridge don, Professor Aldous Phipps, and Southwold's Inspector Jennings, the task of sifting truth from falsehood is complicated by a collection of local eccentrics: Horace Dagwood, a hectoring property tycoon; the earnest Reverend Furblow and a cranky Goodhart twins, whose brand of moral crusading may not be as harmless as first thought. The shadow over Southwold looms far, menacing visitor and resident alike and leads to an alarming result.