One of the few things Eliot Oakcroft MP knows is the secret of political survival: hire competent people and take the credit yourself. Luckily, Maxwell Murray and Diana Burton keep his office running with only occasional homicidal thoughts. Then Eliot is manoeuvred into taking on intern Robin Leishman, nephew of the formidable constituency chairwoman Dame Barbara Chard. Robin is ambitious, energetic - and utterly intolerable. Max and Diana soon find themselves wondering which of them will kill him first. So it's a surprise when someone beats them to it.
When Robin is found dead during a weekend in Eliot's idyllic constituency of Middlebury-Mid, suspicion falls on a local eccentric with a grudge. But Max and Diana aren't convinced. Robin had offended almost everyone he met - and in politics, murder is rarely the only thing people are trying to cover up.