An elderly woman is found dead in her cottage and DCI Tom Barnaby is convinced the death is not down to natural causes

Gerald Hadleigh, secretary of a writers' circle, is found battered to death the morning after the group's meeting with best-selling novelist (and former psycho-therapist) Max Jennings. Gerald did not want to invite Max to Midsomer Worthy, and he seemed apprehensive about the visit.Barnaby's investigations show that Gerald was a man of mystery - he had no National Insurance number, no family, and no marriage certficate to go with his wedding photographs. And it seems he had a mysterious woman visitor on the night of his death... then Max Jennings goes missing and is found dead.

The body of Agnes Gray, a woman who loved only animals, is found in the river - but she did not drown. And then her cousin Esslyn Carmichael is tricked into killing himself on stage during an amateur production of the murder mystery Amadeus. Barnaby has to get to grips with clues which include adultery, dramatic ambition, stolen religious art, and large donations to animal charities, before unmasking a killer who proves to be mad.Meanwhile, love begins to blossom between Cully Barnaby and Nico Bentley, one of the cast of Amadeus...

A craft centre in the old mill at Morton Fendle is losing money. Several locals have invested in the business and believe they have been swindled by Alan Hollingsworth, the man behind it. When Hollingsworth's glamorous wife Simone goes missing, Barnaby believes she has been kidnapped and puts Hollingsworth under observation. However, Hollingsworth evades the police, carrying a bundle of cash, and a woman neighbour who follows him to his rendez-vous is killed in a bizarre road accident. Then Hollingsworth is found dead, and Simone turns up alive. Barnaby guesses she and a friend faked the kidnapping, but he can't prove it.

At a local New Age commune (fancifully called the Lodge of the Golden Windhorse) William Carter is found dead with a broken neck, lying at the bottom of a staircase. Barnaby and Troy have to decide whether the death was an accident or murder.

Barnaby and Troy are in Badger's Drift again, this time to investigate the murder of an unpopular property developer called Richard Bayly who had been suffering from a brain tumour. Bayly had recently come up with plans to build a new housing estate in the sleepy village, despite determined local opposition, and he was killed with an Indian sword belonging to Stephen Wentworth, the local Vicar. Another interesting factor is the recent arrival in the village of Simon Fletcher, a theatre director with unhappy childhood memories and perhaps an old grievance.

Nine years after a series of unsolved murders at Midsomer Worthy, a new death which follows the same pattern (a girl is found strangled in the woods) leads to fears that the serial killer is back in business. Barnaby and Troy look out the old files in dealing with the first new murder - and then others follow.

Troy is in the Midsomer Worthy cricket eleven for the annual match against Fletchers Cross, so he is on the spot when the wife of Robert Cavendish, the Team Captain and a big local landowner, is found bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat. As often happens, the death toll mounts before the killer can be unmasked. Why should the cricket team's scorer be stabbed to death with a Nazi dagger at the following match? Cavendish, as a mine owner, may have been responsible for the 'accidental' deaths of two of his employees in years gone by. If someone is out for revenge, who is it? Meanwhile, a protest march to maintain footpaths across Cavendish's land finds a foot-bridge has been sabotaged, and their leader takes a ducking...

The sleepy village of Martyr Warren is invaded by quarrelsome New Age travellers, some of whom fall out with Hector Bridges, a local magistrate. The police are well aware of the tensions, but matters come to a head when Hector is found shot dead. It quickly appears that he was feared by almost everyone in sight, including his own family. And there is more to the travellers than meets the eye - one of them is a former British army officer who fought alongside Hector in the Falklands War... Then (as so often happens to Barnaby and Troy) another dead body is found, this time that of an old man at the travellers' camp.Meanwhile, Barnaby is not feeling in full fighting trim for murder investigations, as Joyce has put him on a strict diet to lose weight.

When a tramp dies fleeing from fox hunters, the investigation uncovers a trail of murderous deceit.

A series of deaths at a nursing home causes the residents to suspect foul play.

Midsomer Mallow has a shot at the Perfect Village title, provided it can keep a murderer at bay.

Unearthly happenings in and around a local museum create an atmosphere of terror.

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 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....

A man's naked body is found in a crop circle, then another dead man electrocuted at the wheel of his vehicle, and then yet another dead man in another crop circle. Barnaby is not impressed by rumours of extra-terrestrial killings, and is sure he is dealing with a human murderer. Before he can solve the mystery, he has to fathom a forty-year-old rivalry in love, the vengeance of the loser, and the defences of the winner.

Dr Burgess, on his way home from a party at the glamorous Francesca Ward's riding school, knocks a stranger down in the road at Newton Magna, and the stranger mysteriously vanishes. Barnaby identifies the missing man as Sean O'Connell, a disgraced Irish vet, then he recognizes the village's new squire as Melvyn Stockard, a retired villain. A body found in a well proves to be the father of the man Stockard's daughter is about to marry... everyone knows he was against the marriage, but is Stockard a killer, and where does the missing Irishman fit in?

A postman is brutally murdered on his morning round in the hamlet of Goodman's Land. Local WPC Jay Nash helps Barnaby and Troy to establish that Dave offered a very personal service to the female villagers, leaving a trail of jealous husbands in his wake, and it becomes clear that the tiny village is riven with other adulterous affairs. Then the body count begins to go up...Meanwhile, romance is blossoming between Troy and Jay.

A wealthy young landlady fears for her life after she callously ignores the plight of an elderly tenant.

A ladies reading group in Midsomer Market starts losing members to murder.

A suspicious suicide note has Barnaby wondering if foul play was involved in a young woman's death.

In the village of Midsomer Wellow, someone is killing off the bellringers of the parish church, in the week before a big bell-ringing competition. One young woman on the team is even shot dead in the churchyard on her wedding day. Before he can crack the case, Barnaby has to understand the significance of an old killing in the same village in the year 1860, when the Midsomer Wellow Vicar of the day, the Reverend Jonathan Ebbrell, was murdered and thrown down a well by the bellringers of his church. So where are the Ebbrells now?

Members of an elite student club close ranks after a murder at the Devington School.

Accusations of unsportsmanlike conduct on the river are bedevilling the Midsomer game fishermen, and Barnaby has to interview elegant widow Isobel Hewitt, a spendthrift, fast-living, Jaguar-driving 75-year-old, when another lady fly-fisher accuses her of a violent assault. Then first Isobel and later her fellow villager Dr Duncan Goff are found on the river-bank with their skulls smashed in, and there is no shortage of suspects - including an antique dealer who apparently specializes in befriending elderly widows. The picture is confused when one of the suspects, chef-restaurateur Keith Scholey, is found frozen to death in his walk-in deep freeze, with the lock of the door jammed by a nail. Troy has a theory that Scholey was the killer and has made his suicide look like murder, but will that be the end of the affair?

Barnaby investigates a death which looks very much like suicide. The dead man was a troubed and depressed gambler on a losing streak, but Barnaby's nose tells him to look for a murderer. During the investigation he recognizes someone from his past, in the shape of Dr Jane Moore.

Barnaby's wife, Joyce, finds a dead body on the Midsomer Florey village green while taking part in a watercolour painting class, and she recognizes it as the elderly Miss Fairfax.Barnaby is given the case, then finds himself taken off it and replaced by a team from the National Intelligence Squad, while he is assigned to deal with a missing handbag. However, he continues his investigation into the murder, finding deceit and double-dealing. It appears that 'Miss Fairfax' was not an elderly spinster at all, but a young detective sergeant from the National Intelligence Squad working under cover, and that her colleagues are busy fitting up the village handyman for the murder of an old lady who never was. He discovers that someone is busy hunting for some five million pounds still missing from an old robbery. In the closing moments, Barnaby has to lock two of the National Intelligence Squad's officers in a bank strong-room, where they are trying to snatch the missing cash, and to arrest the

Someone is decimating the ancient Smythe-Webster family of Upper Walden, and the bad blood between the villages of Upper and Lower Walden is renewed with a vengeance. First, young heart-throb actor Larry Smith (alias Laurence Smythe-Webster) dies in an explosion at a publicity event for a new film. House of Satan is based on a book by a local writer, the late Ellis Bell of Lower Walden - a village whose inhabitants are referred to by its Vicar, the Reverend Simon Smythe-Webster, as ""the weasels of the wild wood"".The next to die is Larry's uncle, House of Satan producer Frank Webster (Francis Smythe-Webster), electrocuted to death on his exercise bike. Finally, Barnaby's principal suspect, Danny Pinchel, the family's cook, is drowned in a large bowl of tomato soup...Barnaby realizes he is dealing with an historic grudge, and he enquires into the family's antecedents.

Julian Shepherd, who has most of his money invested in Charles Edmonton's new invention, is found drowned, and there is every appearance that he killed himself due to money problems. Then a villager who has been stealing peregrine falcon eggs from Charles's widow is also found dead, and Barnaby and Troy investigate.

The Barnaby-Troy partnership is about to come to an end, as Troy has passed his inspector's exam and is moving on. However, the murderers of Midsomer go on piling up the bodies. Joyce Barnaby gets trapped in a fallen canal tunnel, and in getting her out seven skeletons come to light in a hidden chamber. Meanwhile, two local tearaways are shot dead in the woods at Midsomer Worthy, and a tramp called Tom is accused of the killings. While Troy looks into the shootings, Barnaby wrestles with an old mystery. And although six of the skeletons found in the tunnel date from the 18th century, one is much more recent.

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...

Midsomer Barrow landowner Gareth Heldman is murdered with an Iron Age spear, on the same spot where his father was killed many years before during an archaeologists' dig at the village's prehistoric earthworks. Meanwhile, troupes of new age travellers (whom Heldman strongly disapproved of) are arriving to celebrate the summer solstice on June 21st. Barnaby finds Heldman was a womaniser, with a tangled web of offspring. He also has to reopen the file on the thirty-year-old murder of Roger Heldman and investigate a tale of lost treasure.

The Midsomer Literary Festival opens with the real-life murder of a famous author at Midsomer St Michael. In investigating the killing, Barnaby and Scott find that the village highbrows are busy with corruption, embezzlement, and sexual peccadillos of various kinds. And the dead bodies go on piling up.

Jamie Cruickshank, a bartender at the Maid in Splendour public house, is keen on Bella Monday, a barmaid, and follows her to a tumbledown old cottage in the woods, only to be blasted with a twelve-bore shotgun. Then the pub landlord's son, Stephen Bannerman, is also killed in the same way. Barnaby finds there was ill-feeling between locals and newcomers to the village and also between the landlord and his aggressive son, who was in the process of taking over the business.

When a traditional festival is revived at Midsomer Parva, it goes disastrously wrong, with the curate (or assistant priest) being burnt alive inside a straw effigy of a woman. Local property owner Alan Clifford holds a party at the Manor House, and it seems he has secrets... And then, just after finding a pig's head on the altar of the parish church, the dead curate's gay lover, the Reverend Jim Hale, dies too, seemingly of 'spontaneous combustion' - that is, he bursts into flames without any normal explanation. Barnaby refuses to believe in rumours of witchcraft and is vindicated when it proves that Hale's clothes had been sprinkled with phosphorus. Then, with Barnaby hot on the killer's trail, Liz Francis is knocked out with a candlestick and becomes the third villager to be burnt alive.

DCI Tom Barnaby and Sergeant Dan Scott investigate a link between a murder spree and a spiritualist church.

The Midsomer Regatta is halted by the discovery of the body of the chairman of the Midsomer Rowing Club floating at the finishing line.

An elderly woman is found dead in her cottage and DCI Tom Barnaby is convinced the death is not down to natural causes.

When a rare orchid is smuggled illegally into Midsomer Malham it releases the heady scents of passion, jealousy and death.

DCI Tom Barnaby and Sgt Dan Scott investigate the murders of a horse-racing syndicate.

John Ransom is found murdered with suspicious burn marks to his head. The investigation leads to two feuding families - one with the ability of second sight.

When local solicitor Nick Turner falls to his death from his house roof, it is not clear whether it was murder or suicide.

Barnaby and Scott investigate when the dead body of rival employee, Dexter Lockwood, is found in the Plummer family's factory steriliser.

When retired music teacher Arthur Leggott is battered to death with a torch, Barnaby and Scott investigate a web of family feuds and long lost love affairs to discover the truth.

A couple who have been searching the Midsomer area for a suitable property to renovate, Peter & Caroline Cave, are found brutally garrotted in their car outside a supposedly haunted dilapidated old cottage in the woods near Midsomer Newton. There are several other people interested in buying the house, but are they desperate enough to murder potential rivals? Barnaby investigates, with the assistance of PC Ben Jones, who he temporarily appoints Detective Constable, in the absence of DS Scott. Joyce Barnaby is helping a local group of conservationists identify architecturally important buildings in the area, and is asked to investigate the same cottage, potentially putting her in danger. Barnaby then discovers that there is something odd about the person selling the cottage.

The village of Midsomer Barton is celebrating Oak Apple Week when a local single mother, Marion Slade, is found drowned in the village stream. It looks like suicide, and that she was driven to it by grief over the death, eight years before, of her daughter, Bella, a local beauty pageant winner. Barnaby investigates and is shaken by two villagers who look like murder victims from his past. Then another body is discovered and it appears that the festivities have stirred up a cocktail of adultery, contempt, unrequited love and revenge in the village. And it all appears to center around Bella Slade.

The elderly Sir Freddy Butler has invited both his ex-wives, Annabel & Lucinda, to stay with him and his current wife, Tara. When he dies suddenly of a heart attack, the bitter rivalry between the three and Sandra, the wife of his heir, comes to the surface, with murderous consequences. To solve the mystery, Barnaby must unravel paternity questions about some of the residents of the hall, and find the legendary missing emeralds.

Barnaby and Jones investigate the shooting of a blackmailer, Martin Barrett. But he had so many victims, they are spoiled for choice for a suspect. Then one of his victims, Sir John Waverley, gets another demand. The trail leads them to the seaside and diving for treasure on an uncataloged wreck.

The Midsomer Worthy local amateur choir includes Joyce Barnaby & Dr Bullard amongst its members. Their conductor, Laurence Barker, has a bitter feud with a rival. Following a rehearsal for the regional Four Choirs competition, the lead tenor, Connor Simpson, dies mysteriously.

Frank Hopkirk, an environmental adviser on the proposed site of a controversial Goodfare supermarket in Elverton-cum-Latterly, is found stabbed to death in an old farm building on the site. Barnaby & Jones question locals on both sides of the debate over the plans, and find that Mr Hopkirk had extra-curricular dealings with a number of the local ladies and their businesses. But which one of these caused passions to be stirred up to such a murderous extent?

Annie Woodrow, a charity worker from Midsomer Malham, is standing trial for killing her best friend, Frances Trevelyan, in a case that Barnaby had investigated ten months previously. But he becomes increasingly unsettled that the prosecution's case doesn't match the facts. Barnaby & Jones enlist the help of key witness Mrs Beverly in a risky entrapment to find out what really happened. Jones's promotion to Det Sgt comes through at the same time.

Barnaby's mother-in-law comes to visit, and insists on being taken to the village of Broughton, which has seen a war between the sexes for decades. During this year's traditional fair, elderly women's campaigner Mildred Danvers is murdered. And then the misogynist vicar, the Rev Anthony Gant, is murdered during a bizarre traditional event that forms part of the proceedings. Is this an evening of the score, or is another long-standing feud responsible?

Den unge Simon Bright findes død i sin veteranbil på en nedlagt militær flyveplads. Ved første øjekast ligner det selvmord, men det bliver hurtigt klart, at Simon ikke var alene i bilen. Hvad er der blevet af hans unge kæreste? Var det hende, der slog Simon ihjel? Eller er hun selv blevet offer for morderen? Barnaby og hans assistent Jones går på jagt efter svarene.

Faith Alexander får sig lidt af en overraskelse, da hun efter 40 år i Amerika vender tilbage til England for at besøge sin onkel Rex. Det viser sig nemlig, at Rex har fortalt alle, at hun og hele hendes familie er omkommet i en flyulykke. Overraskelse bliver til chok, da Rex findes myrdet dagen efter. Barnaby forsøger at nå til bunds i den mystiske sag.

Seks måneder efter fabriksejeren Alan Kings død gifter hans enke sig med hans bror. Alans søn er rasende. Det samme er fabrikkens ansatte, for fabrikken er blevet lukket, og de ansatte føler, at deres pensionspenge er forsvundet ned i ejernes lommer. Da fabrikkens regnskabsfører findes myrdet, er der således ikke mangel på mistænkte. Der venter Barnaby en vanskelig sag, men selveste William Shakespeare sætter ham på sporet af gådens løsning.

Der skal være rockfestival i Midsomer, og Barnaby føler sig som en teenager igen. I dagens anledning bliver hans gamle yndlingsband nemlig gendannet. Men ikke alle egnens beboere er lige begejstrede over at blive invaderet af en flok aldrende, men stadig væk balstyriske rockstjerner. Og snart må Barnaby tilmed se i øjnene, at en af hans helte måske er morder.

Den ikke længere helt unge Delyth Mostyn erklærer, at hun har planer om at sælge sit hjem og gifte sig med den lokale læge, James Kirkwood. Hendes voksne børn er rasende - og James' eks-svigermor er heller ikke begejstret. En aften bliver James' partner kørt ihjel, men var morderen i virkeligheden ude efter James? Barnaby og hans assistent Jones går på jagt efter svaret.

Landsbyen Luxton Deepings fotografiske selskab nægter at lade digitale billeder deltage i den årlige fotokonkurrence. Det skaber splid i den lille by, og Barnaby bliver trukket ind i konflikten, da en af fotograferne findes myrdet. Sporene synes tilmed at antyde, at det er Barnaby, der er morderen! Den garvede kommissær bliver suspenderet, og nu er det op til ham selv at bevise sin uskyld.

Barnabys datter skal giftes, og den stolte far deltager i bryllupsforberedelserne. Men det er ikke det eneste bryllup, der skal finde sted på egnen. Ved en stort anlagt ceremoni bliver sir Ned Fitzroy gift med Beth Porteous. Receptionen bliver holdt på familien Fitzroys gods, men festlighederne får en brat ende, da en af brudepigerne findes myrdet. Og pludselig får Barnaby andet end bryllupsplaner at tænke på.

Den berygtede forbryder George Ince dukker op i Midsomer, og Barnaby spekulerer over, hvad han pønser på. Samtidig er et filmhold ved at indspille en ny udgave af Den røde pimpernel ved et af de lokale godser. Filmsettet summer af intriger, og snart ruller der hoveder. Bogstaveligt talt. For da guillotinen falder, og blodet sprøjter, er det ikke noget filmtrick.

Tommy Hicks bliver skudt som desertør under 1. verdenskrig. Det dræbende skud bliver affyret af løjtnant Hammond, og det starter en indædt fejde mellem familierne Hicks og Hammond. 90 år senere får Tommy endelig æresoprejsning. Men det sætter ikke en stopper for den bitre strid mellem de to familier, og snart må kriminalkommissær Barnaby opklare et mord.

Lord Holm og Gina Colby bestyrer et udslusningshjem for tidligere kriminelle i landsbyen Midsomer Holm. Gina Colbys mand, Jack, er tidligere politimand og Barnabys gamle makker. Men af grunde, som Barnaby ikke kan gennemskue, nægter Jack at tale med ham. Og snart må den garvede kriminalkommissær tilmed opklare mordet på sin gamle kollega.

Lynne Fox er ude at samle underskrifter mod en ny omfartsvej, da hun gør et uhyggeligt fund. Ægteparret Wilson, der helst holder sig for selv, ligger begge døde i deres hus. Har parret overrasket en indbrudstyv? Eller er sandheden mere dyster? Lynne er kendt for sine psykiske evner. Hun er sikker på, at der snart vil ske flere mord - og hun har ganske ret...

I en skov iagttager en ældre mand noget i sin kikkert. Da han opdager, at han er blevet set, forsøger han at flygte. Men et væltet træ spærrer vejen for ham, og to uger senere findes han død i sin bil. Hvad var det, han så? Og hvem kunne ønske ham død? Makkerparret Barnaby og Jones går på jagt efter svaret.

Ernest Balliol ejer et firma, der sælger okkult materiale. Han befinder sig midt i en bitter strid med Aloysius Wilmington, der ligesom Balliol er medlem af Midsomers Magiske Selskab. Da Wilmington opfører et trylleshow for en gruppe børn, falder hans kvindelige assistent pludselig død om. Nogen har smurt gift på Wilmingtons redskaber, men hvem og hvorfor? Barnaby og Jones går på jagt efter svaret.

Barnaby og Jones sendes på teambuilding-kursus på en militær øvelsesbane ved et stort gods. Ikke ligefrem Barnabys kop te, men heldigvis får han snart andet at koncentrere sig om. En eksplosion raserer en nærliggende speditørgarage. Det ligner et brandattentat, men hvad er motivet? Mens Barnaby og Jones efterforsker sagen, skyller en stor kuffert op på søbredden. I kufferten ligger der et lig...

Barnaby og Jones bliver hvirvlet ind i en særpræget sag om overtro og antikviteter, da to ægtepar forsvinder sporløst fra deres huse på et stort gods. Den nærliggende skov siges at være hjemsøgt af en gruppe munke, der blev massakreret for mange år siden. Men da den clairvoyante Cyrus LeVanu finder liget af en ukendt mand i skoven, viser det sig at være af nyere dato...

Barnaby er ikke ligefrem sportsfanatiker, men ikke desto mindre forsøger hans kone at overtale ham til at begynde at spille golf. Den magelige politimand er ikke begejstret for ideen, men snart må han alligevel en tur på golfbanen. Den lokale golfklub er nemlig blevet skueplads for et mord.

Barnaby lader sig overtale til at være dommer i en cricketkamp. Hans meddommer er en excentrisk eks-spion - og til sin kones store overraskelse afslører Barnaby, at han selv har en fortid som efterretningsagent. Da en anden tidligere spion findes myrdet, indser Barnaby, at sagen har tråde til den kolde krig. Men inden han kan nå at opklare den, tages han pludselig af sagen.

Et hidtil ukendt maleri af den højtskattede lokale kunstner Henry Hodgson er pludselig dukket op. Maleriet bliver solgt på en auktion under stor ståhej, men der stopper historien ikke. For Hodgsons malerier er i så høj kurs, at nogen tilsyneladende er parat til at begå mord for at få fingre i dem. Og snart må Barnaby og Jones atter i arbejdstøjet.

Midsomers sportsvognsentusiaster og medlemmerne af den lokale cykelklub er ikke de bedste venner. Cyklisterne mener, at bilisterne kører hensynsløst. Måske er det derfor, at en ukendt gerningsmand er begyndt at overhælde områdets sportsvogne med lim og maling? Mens Barnaby leder efter den skyldige, bliver en cyklist dræbt af en flugtbilist. Skyldes det den verserende strid? Eller er der et helt andet motiv for forbrydelsen?

En smuk og detaljerig miniatureby er landsbyen Little Worthys stolthed, men der går skår i idyllen, da miniaturebyen bliver skueplads for et bizart mord. Som en anden Gulliver findes en lokal mand spændt fast med snore og pløkker midt blandt den lille bys huse - med et dybt og dødbringende sår i lænden. En ny sag for Barnaby og hans assistent Jones.

Barnaby og Jones jager en mystisk listetyv, der sniger sig ind i folks huse og berøver dem, mens de sover. Snart kaldes makkerparret til godset Chettham Park House, hvor en gæst af huset er blevet kvalt. Ved første øjekast ser det ud til, at listetyven har gjort sig selv til morder, men senere begynder den gådefulde tyv at fodre Barnaby med spor. Motivet for forbrydelsen skal findes 25 år tilbage i tiden.

To år efter at skrædderen Gerald Woodley er død, er hans efterladte kone plaget af skyld og bekymringer. Var det mon fordi hun ikke hjalp ham i tide, da han fik hjerteanfaldet i haven? Det bliver et af spørgsmålene, som kriminalkommisær Barnaby må søge svar på, da konen selv dør. Men denne gang er det tydeligt overlagt mord!

Midt om natten bliver det meste af landsbyen vækket af et råb om hjælp. Skolelæreren Connie Bishop er sikker på, at nogen lister rundt i hendes hus! Naboerne er nu ikke specielt bekymrede, for det er langt fra første gang, den unge lærer tror, at hun har ubudne gæster. Også denne gang ser det ud til at være falsk alarm. Men netop som Barnaby tror, at Connie lider af en lidt for livlig fantasi, dukker der et lig op i hendes baghave.

En hætteklædt skikkelse trænger ind i en kirke, hvor et funklende sværd har været gemt. Det tilhører en ekstremt rig adelig familie, der har skaffet sig mange fjender gennem tiden - blandt andet ved at sætte penge højere end forholdet til andre mennesker. Familiens søn er svært hjerneskadet efter et overfald, men Barnaby får mistanke om, at der ligger mere bag det gamle overfald end som så.

I Ford Florey Wild West Club er medlemmerne vilde med cowboys og heste. Men cowboy-metoderne bliver ikke kun brugt til opvisninger på hest. Både et, to og hele tre mord når at finde sted blandt klubbens støtter, inden Barnaby og Jones løser gåden. Hvem myrder løs med en gammel revolver, et helt specielt våben fra det ægte vilde vesten?

Barnabys hustru, Joyce, havner i grøften, da hun forsøger at undgå at køre en nattevandrer ned. Men måske ramte hun alligevel nogen? Næste dag findes den lokale bibliotekar i hvert fald livløs oven på en grav på en nærliggende kirkegård. Blev han ramt af Joyces bil? Eller er der en anden forklaring på hans pludselige død?

Pianisten sir Michael Fielding leder en skole for unge, ambitiøse musikere. En af dem, Zoe, ser en kvinde efterlade et spædbarn på flodbredden for derefter at springe i floden, men da Barnaby ankommer til stedet, er der hverken spor efter kvinden eller barnet. Det minder Barnaby om en 20 år gammel sag, og mens kampen om pladserne til sir Michaels master class skærpes, forsøger nogen at slå Zoe ihjel.

Bokseren John Kinsella vender hjem til Midsomer som nybagt verdensmester. Her skal han være med til at fejre 150-årsdagen for den første kamp om verdensmesterskabet i boksning nogensinde - den fandt nemlig sted i Midsomer. Men inden festlighederne overhovedet er kommet i gang, sker der et mord. Det bliver en sag for Barnaby og hans assistent Jones.

En disput omkring byplanlægning ender med mord i den ellers så idylliske landsby Great Pelfe. Maureen Stubbs arbejder for at bevare området, som det er. Hun er stærk modstander af et nyt byggeprojekt - men er det derfor, hun bliver slået ihjel? Barnaby og Jones går på jagt efter svaret.

Barnaby lader sig overtale til at tage med sin kone på weekendophold på et kursted. Den garvede politimand er ikke meget for massage og flydetanke, så det er næsten en lettelse for ham, da der bliver begået et mord. Det bliver samtidig Tom Barnabys sidste sag - men heldigvis står der en ny Barnaby klar i kulissen...