Causton is buzzing at the opening of a new brewery on the site of a famously cursed Abbey. But excitement turns to fear when a man is found boiled to death in one of the vats. DCI Barnaby and DS Winter are puzzled; could this really be about beer?

A butterfly collector is found pinned to a wall like one of his specimens.

Carver Valley’s comic festival is in full swing when the village is shocked by the murder of a former supermodel. With a scathing comic shaming several villagers as the only lead, Barnaby and Winter are left trying to separate fact from fiction.

Barnaby gets to relive his former sporting glory when a death at the local Rugby Club sends Barnaby and Winter into a muddle of rucks, grudges, romance… and artisanal chocolates?

Things take a gruesome turn when Ferabbees Circus comes to town, bringing with it a chain of sinister clown sightings, threatening notes and deathly dangerous circus acts. Barnaby will have to face up to his fears in order to solve the case.