When a young woman dies in a busy park in broad daylight, McDonald and Dodds are called in to untangle the mysterious circumstances of her death. Who is she? How did she die surrounded by witnesses? And how is it possible that she is smiling? All roads seem to lead to Professor George Gillan (Alan Davies), a linguistic anthropologist who lives in a rambling mansion with his eccentric mother, Agnes (Sian Phillips), whose 100th birthday is days away. DS Dodds is sure that the house has something to do with the murder, but in uncovering Belvedere’s history, Dodds also unearths secrets in his own past.

The duo are sucked into the fast and furious world of Formula 1 after Bath's famous motorsport dynasty, the Addingtons, report that their up-and-coming driver has died during a sub-3.5-second pit stop. As an F1 fan herself, McDonald won't let patriarch and Team Coach Archie Addington run rings around her, but when a significant someone from her past gets dragged into the investigation, she's thrown off course. But it's one of Dodds' specialisms that leads them to uncover the darker side of success and finally unravel the truth.

In a case of social media versus reality, a lifestyle influencer dies during a routine nose job, leaving McDonald and Dodds to separate the fact from fiction.

On the dawn of All Soul’s Day, the body of a successful Bath businessman is found in a shallow grave in the shadow of the Glastonbury Tor.