- Reformed
criminal Ronnie Tyler prepares to leave Midsomer Holm,
- a tranquil
village and halfway house founded by Lord Holm and
- detective-turned-psychotherapist
Professor Gina Colby. At the heart of the
- village is an
historic camera obscura.
-
- New arrival
Eddie Marston takes Ronnie's place, which DCI Barnaby is
- uneasy about.
Meanwhile Gina's husband Jack, a former DS at Causton,
- is having
trouble sleeping, haunted by the past.
-
- Jack and
Barnaby were close, but Jack can't open up to his old colleague
- now. He left
the force under a cloud after Lord Holm was jailed for killing his
- unfaithful wife
Maria with the handle from the camera obscura. Maria's
- conquests
included the Friday Nighters - policemen who had sex with her in
- the cells while
Jack was on duty.
-
- After the
scandal, Gina had resigned and retrained as a
- counsellor, and
had visited Lord Holm in prison. When he got early
- release, he
invited her to expand her work with offenders. Jack, now a
- probation
officer, recommended Eddie for Midsomer Holm, even though
- he was the cop
who got him jailed.
-
- Cully and Simon
arrive for a surprise visit, but Barnaby is called
- away when
Jack's Land Rover is found wrecked in a ditch, with Jack
- dead. Bullard
says Jack was murdered with a heavy iron bar.
- The detectives
learn that Jack was upset by financial problems
- at Midsomer
Holm and his mood changed suddenly a month ago.
- Meanwhile Eddie
Marston has disappeared.
-
- Postman Lionel
Poulter, one of the Friday Nighters, intercepts an
- envelope sent
by Jack to Barnaby, containing newspaper cuttings and
- a threatening
note. He phones Eddie but is found by Barnaby and Jones
- and forced to
admit that he's been blackmailing Jack since meeting
- Eddie in jail.
But what was Jack so anxious to hide?