After a freak storm, a long buried body is discovered in the grounds of a Jacobean mansion run by the National Trust. Detective Inspector Hambley needs to find out the identity of the deceased as well as the manner of his death. Progress in the case is not helped by the un-cooperative attitude of the aristocratic family who once owned Chelford Manor. It is only when a murder takes place in a London flat that links another member of the family, a world famous violinist, to this case, that Hambley begins to unravel the first mystery. He puts his career on the line by involving himself in the second case even though it is not in his area. He is greatly assisted by a fiercely feminist, ambitious, and astute female detective constable whose intuitions lead to the linking of the two cases and an eventual solution.