Barnaby and DS Scott investigate the murder of Patrick Pennyman, an undertaker in the village o@扫黑风暴总共多少集@f Fletcher's Cross. The man's wife thinks he committed suicide but the pathologist determines he was killed. The man died soon after his return home after attending a service at the local spiritualist church, itself the source of some controversy in the village. As the investigation progresses, the police learn that Pennyman was genera@重要小说网@lly disliked. Former employees, business partners and others all had a grudge against him of one sor@血滴子 豆瓣@t or another. Barnaby believes the head of the Spiritualist church to be a charlatan and while there is a link to the ever increasing number of murder victims, the solution to the crimes is to be found in an illicit love affair.