The Inkpen family has bought back its ancestral home, Inkpen Manor at Midsomer Deverell, and they plan to turn a village Memorial Garden on their land into a tea shop. This causes consternation in the village, and the Bennetts (who previously owned the manor and founded the Memorial Garden) lead the opposition. Then young Fliss Inkpen-Thomas is found dead in the Memorial Garden with her skull smashed in, and a few days later her mother Elspeth dies of poisoning, with the possibility of suicide firmly denied by her family and friends. Barnaby investigates the deaths and finds older and more deep-seated motives for murder lurking in another ancient family.

Barnaby's new partner, Sergeant Dan Scott, arrives from London's Metropolitan Police and expects to have a quiet life. But then the murders begin. The first victim is Fiona Thompson, stabbed several times with a long knife on her way home from a flamenco night at Midsomer Mallow village hall - and a witness reports a mysterious squeaking noise at the scene of the crime...