Dead man's eleven: Schock ripples across the village of Fletcher's Cross when a prominent businessman's trophy wife is bludgeoned to death with a cricket bat. While the victim had no apparent enemies, her avaricious husband, Robert Cavendish, is hated by all. Death of a stranger: As the Upper Marshwood hunt heads off into the woods, a filthy tramp runs for cover, stumbles and falls into a pit screaming. This suspicious death, and the puzzling behavior of several villagers, leads Barnaby to discover a tangle of sordid secrets. Blue herrings: When Muriel Harrap's lifeless body is found late one night in the elevator at Lawnside, a home for the elderly, everyone assumes she died of natural causes. But when another seemingly healthy woman dies, rumers of fraud and murder terrify the residents. Judgement day: Amid the excitement of preparations for the Perfect Village Competition in Midsomer Mallow, a local rogue is found brutally murdered. Barnaby discovers a wealth of suspects, all of whom appear to be lying, and a determination by the villagers to keep his investigation quiet so as not to jeopardize their chances in the competition.