Alleyn cancels his holiday with Troy to investigate a murder connected to a stolen chalice, but he's called when a second murder occurs at uncle's estate.

A member of Parliament who has taken controversial stands on Palestine and A-bomb development is murdered during a routine appendectomy.

An egotistical Shakespearean ham actor gathers his dysfunctional extended family in his mansion on his 75th birthday for the reading of his will.

During a display of dart throwing in a Cornish pub a man's hand is impaled by a dart, and he dies shortly afterward from cyanide although no one can explain how.

Inspector Alleyn enlists the help of his friend Lord Robert "Bunchy" Gospell to uncover a society blackmailer. After Lord Robert is killed, a murder hunt follows among the world of titled heiresses, gamblers and adulterers.

A divorced and disliked man living in a nobleman's estate is found in a sewer ditch after someone rolled a concrete pipe on his head.

Alleyn's old French teacher, the landlord of an idyllic Scottish island is receiving death threats because she's blocking its development as a health spa.

The publication of a war hero's memoirs and his dispute with a neighboring fisherman about poaching leads to a murder.