When the death up at the big house is announced to the village of Compton Dando, few are surprised. Given that it's the home of an unlikely bunch of New Age oddballs, perhaps it was a only a matter of time before one of them came to a bad end. The verdict: an accident. But only weeks later, another death is reported, and this time there's no doubt about it - it's murder. To Chief Inspector Barnaby, hurriedly summoned to the scene, it is immediately apparent that the case...
Mitch is a 25-year-old with commitment issues. Leonard is a five-year-old kid with asthma and vision problems, who captivates everyone he meets. Pearl is Leonard's teenage mother, who's trying to hide a violent secret from her past. Life has given Pearl every reason to mistrust people, but circumstances force...