A group of five children - members of a secret society - peel away from the rest of the pupils and head towards the woods. There is something conspiratorial about them. They congregate at a ruined greenhouse and begin smashing the windows with bricks. Simon, one of the eldest boys, hands Felix, the youngest and most vulnerable of the group, a brick which he lobs at the greenhouse.

When Carla Constanza - the face of Brazil's leading cigarette brand for Monarch Tobacco - is found strangled in the infamous Strangler’s Wood, Barnaby and Troy not only find themselves investigating her murder, but three identical unsolved murders of innocent girls from eight years before.

Shock ripples across the village of Fletcher's Cross when a prominent businessman's trophy wife is bludgeoned to death with a cricket bar. While the victim had no apparent enemies, her avaricious husband, Robert Cavendish, is hated by all.

Some distance away the demented bee-like sound of an old moped cuts through the silence of the valley as Fleur motors her way through the village. She waves to the mild mannered shopkeeper, Peter Fairfax who is preparing his shop window. As Peter watches her go Tilly Dinsdale cycles past, wearing her usual green wellies and waxed jacket, in too much of a rush to stop - much to Peter's relief.