Barnaby attends the funeral of the owner of the Easterly Grange Hotel and hears that the hotel manager has gone missing. The will is read, and it seems the hotel has been divided between the missing manager and his beautiful wife, the hotel's chef and its accountant.A dog finds the hotel manager's severed hand, and the others named in the will receive threatening notes. Then accidents start to happen to them all, including mushroom-poisoning, an apparently accidental shooting, a falling drinks cabinet and a sabotaged vehicle. Barnaby next learns that the missing hotel manager had in his possession a more recent will, which is also now missing....

When factory owner Alan King, owner of the Kings crystal glass company, meets his death in Shanghai the repercussions are swiftly felt in far off Midsomer Magna. His brother, not only assumes control and closes the factory down but marries the widow, much to the resentment of her son. When the company's chief accountant is found dead in the river Barnaby finds himself drawn into the mysterious world of Masonic rituals and business corruption. Jones's knowledge of the former proves invaluable but it is Cully's performance in an open air version of Hamlet that provides the vital clue, setting the detectives on a race against time to prevent further deaths.