Inspector John Appleby has a difficult and delicate task when he investigates the murder of the unpopular Josiah Umpleby of St. Anthony's College. The crime is at once intriguing and bizarre, efficient and theatrical - and, intellectually, it is the most challenging crime of his career. For Appleby must pick his way through the malicious gossip and learned squabbles of the college's brightest academics and sift through an embarrassment of clues - genuine and planted.

But with the unexpected aid of three precocious undergraduates - and the St. Anthony's burglar - a subtle killer is unmasked and the devious dons find that the oddest thing about the case is Appleby himself...