February, 1927. The remains of an unidentified middle aged man are found beneath the snow in the grounds of Maxtead Court, home of the wealthy Scroope family. Meanwhile, Margaret Rees Talbot is preparing for her wedding to the Rev Symon Scroope, to the disapproval of some residents of the small market town of Folbury, who think its too soon after the death of Margarets father Osbert, found drowned in his bath a few months previously. An accident or...

1930. When a body is discovered on the premises of the newly-established Maxstead Court School for Girls, Detective Inspector Herbert Reardon is called in to investigate. His wife Ellen having just accepted a job as French teacher, Reardon is alarmed to find the school a hotbed of scandalous secrets, suppressed passions, petty jealousies and wanton schoolgirl cruelty. As he pursues his enquiries, it becomes clear that the dead woman was not who -...