After Life Mike Ash's godmother, the Duchess of Bloxworth, asks for his help when things start going bump in the night at her stately home, Hollander Hall. While Mike visits her, Tom Flowers and James Stonely are asked to trace fake antiques by local auctioneer Derek Smee. The appearance of an heir to the Hollander estate complicates matters further for Mike and the Duchess and the discovery of a naked body in Rilton Castle Lake brings Chief Inspector Muga and her team back to the village once more. As the attacks on the Duchess get more serious, and many Ash family secrets are revealed, all the regular local characters get involved as murder and mayhem threaten the calm of the village and the future of the Ash estate.