Andrea De Ritter, founder of an organization that supports gifted children, is murdered after making a presentation to Zoe Suskin, only fifteen but an Oxford student. That night Andrea had resisted the advances of young student Elmo Woodeson as well as sending a copy of the autobiography of former spy mistress Dame Grace Orde to Zoe's publisher father Leon. She had added inside the book "Who Killed Mary? See Chapter 8." Both Leon and Elmo are killed shortly after and Zoe's tutor Donald Voss is poisoned though not fatally. Suskin had punched Liam Cullen, Andrea's lover...

Student Amy Katz is murdered whilst taking part in a clinical trial for anti-depressant drugs, overseen by Dr. Alex Gansa, her psychiatrist following her soldier brother's death in Afghanistan. Amy captivated the other young male volunteers, including love-lorn Adam Douglas and Jack Collins - to the intense hatred of Jack's girlfriend Karen - but Amy was in love with the married Gansa. Several suspicious incidents cause Lewis to investigate the doctor.

During an ecumenical conference in formerly Catholic St. Gerard's college, the poisoning of a female black American bishop triggers a series of bizarre murders.

As the last remaining all-women's college in Oxford is bidding farewell to one of its most distinguished professors, murder rears its ugly head.