Carolous Deene, Schoolmaster and sometime detective is called to the village of Gladhurst, some 40 miles from the school, by Mrs Bobbin, who asks him to unmask the murderer of her sister. — Here he meets a succession of colourful characters, including a paranoid ex-naval officer, a vicar who is permanently on the horns of a dilemma, his curate, who is more of a scoutmaster, a policeman who insists on being called a 'Police Officer', and an extraordinary number of furious old women.