Pascoe and a pregnant Ellie visit friends in Oxfordshire but are horrified when they discover the corpses of Rose Hopkins and two of her guests. Meanwhile, back in Yorkshire, Dalziel investigates a series of burglaries in which the thief leaves a bizarre calling card.
A serial killer is targeting recently engaged young women, and, after every attack, phones the local newspaper and quotes from Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. Investigations centre around a fair, where the young relative of a psychic fortune teller who 'saw' the death of Brenda Sorby is also murdered.
Dick Elgood, an old fiend of Dalziel's, unofficially reports two strange, nearly fatal incidents and asks Dalziel to investigate. The subsequent investigation exposes a chain of bizarre, accidental deaths stretching back nearly three decades but not a single shred of evidence to suggest foul play! Each of the seemingly unconnected deaths have somehow or other benefited Patrick Alderman although it cannot be proven that he has any connection.
A car crash leaves Dalziel suspended from duty, pending investigation into drunk-driving allegations. Pascoe probes the source of the claims against his boss, and exposes a web of conspiracy surrounding the violent death of an elderly Army veteran — all the while coping with being a dad of the Nineties and dealing with his senile father-in-law.