The old public schools of England are rooted in history and take most things in their stride - but murder is a different matter. The great Merchet School is celebrating its five hundred years with a grand historical pageant when a brutal death intervenes. Masters, wives, boys and parents are caught up in an investigation revealing dark secrets in an apparently civilized society. Jealousy, sexual passion, financial greed and a legacy of the Second World War provide possible motives. All is not resolved until another death takes place. . .