A tightly knit English village provides the atmospheric background for this third mystery in Ann Granger's Cotswolds series. To former Foreign Service Officer Meredith Mitchell, the Cotswolds represent a haven of peace and tranquility away from her stuffy London apartment; to her old friend Chief Inspector Markby, they represent home specifically the charming village of Bamford. Markby's anger at watching bulldozers threaten one of his boyhood haunts turns to alarm when workmen uncover a recently buried corpse. The identity of the dead man remains a mystery; the worker who dug up the body has disappeared and the farmers who own land adjacent to the burial site are little help. Charming, eccentric old Mrs. Carmody treats Markby, whom she has known since he was a boy, as if he still is one, and Mrs. Winthrop at the neighboring farm is happy to supply him with scones and tea but gives little else away. The only cheering prospect on the horizon for Chief Inspector Markby is the forthcoming arrival of Meredith, who has finally, after much prodding, accepted his invitation to visit. Together they begin to follow a trail of clues that leads them from an old ruin where witchcraft may once have been practiced to a dangerous and illegal business to the terrible secret in one family's past