Tensions run high in Lower Pampling as a new type of cricket threatens a century of tradition. When a star cricketer dies during a tournament, DCI Barnaby and DS Winter's investigation draws them into a dangerous game with a surprise visitor from Barnaby's past.

When a young girl slips away from a Jane Austen weekend dressed in period attire, and is found stabbed in the woods, apparently with a Goose feather quill, DCI Barnaby and DS Winter need to look back in time to find the killer.