Tensions are running high at Bartlemas College, Oxford. Daisy Tompkins, a bright, attractive student has put in a formal complaint about her tutor, the odd and unpopular Joseph Fechan. Faith Beeton, the Dean of Women Students, is asked to investigate but, for all his oddities, Joseph is a friend of hers, so she turns to her friend, Kate Ivory, for an impartial opinion. Kate, who is busy trying to put the recent traumatic events in Agatha Street behind her and settle into her new home, is reluctant to become involved in yet another battle in the political war raging at Bartlemas. But then Daisy is murdered. Although Fechan is the obvious suspect, Faith still believes he is innocent and, once again, Kate is drawn unwillingly into the search for the truth.