When Barnaby and Troy find the dead body of arrogant local beauty Melissa Townsend by a swimming pool at her manor house in Midsomer Malham, they uncover a seedy world of adultery and deceit within the affluent rural community.
When the leader of a reading club used as a cover to run an investment portfolio is found battered to death, the club's secret activities are exposed and long-held secrets and desires return to haunt its members.
Susan Bartlett, who was depressed about her infertility, is found dead in a wood - with the appearance that she killed herself. But then Barnaby finds that Susan's emailed suicide note was sent after she was dead. The ensuing murder investigation uncovers old feuds, infidelity and witchcraft.
The bell ringers at Midsomer Wellow are preparing for a National Striking competition but to retired Wing Commander Reggie Barton and other members of the community, they are the bane of their lives. The animosity in the village is accentuated further when one by one, the bell ringers are killed off.
When schoolboy Daniel Talbot fails to cross the finish line of the annual St Malley’s Day race due to a fatal knife wound, Daniel’s father, Anthony Talbot, scion of the school’s founding fathers, automatically points the finger at the village. Barnaby and Troy however, are more interested in the bizarre events of the school’s Pudding club, a secret society open only to those elite students aspiring to the Diplomatic Service.