 Someone is decimating the ancient Smythe-Webster family of Upper Walden, and the bad blood between the villages of Upper and Lower Walden is renewed with a vengeance. First, young heart-throb actor Larry Smith (alias Laurence Smythe-Webster) dies in an explosion at a publicity event for a new film. House of Satan is based on a book by a local writer, the late Ellis Bell of Lower Walden - a village whose inhabitants are referred to by its Vicar, the Reverend Simon Smythe-Webster, as "the weasels of the wild wood". The next to die is Larry s uncle, House of Satan producer Frank Webster (Francis Smythe-Webster), electrocuted to death on his exercise bike.Finally, Barnaby s principal suspect, Danny Pinchel, the family s cook, is drowned in a large bowl of tomato soup... Barnaby realizes he is dealing with an historic grudge, and he inquires into the family s antecedents.