 Barnaby and Troy investigate the murder of Fliss Inkpen-Thomasin the village of Midsomer Deverell. Her mother Elspeth owns the local manor house and is very much disliked in the village for her plans to close a memorial garden on the Manor grounds and open a tea room. There is a neighbor who already dislikes the trouble tourists cause; the daughter of the architect who designed the garden some years previously; the manor s gardener with whom both mother and daughter had been having an affair; and a second daughter, Hilary, whom Fliss tormented at every opportunity. When a second member of the Inkpen family is murdered, Barnaby believes the murders have a far different motive.