Richard Jury

Martha Grimes

In the quaint English village of Long Piddleton, a series of bizarre and gruesome murders shatters the idyllic peace. When a body is discovered submerged in a beer keg at the local pub, "The Man with a Load of Mischief," and another is found impaled on the sign of "The Jack and Hammer," Scotland Yard is called in. Detective Chief Inspector Richard Jury arrives to find a community where everyone suspects an outsider, except for the insightful Melrose Plant. Plant, a keen observer of human nature, guides Jury to look not outward, but inward, into the hidden secrets and dark desires lurking within the hearts of the villagers themselves.