When ambitious hotelier Eric Schucmacher announces he is to turn Springwood Hall, near the market town of Bamford, into a smart Cotswold country-house hotel, the news is greeted by a chorus of local disapproval, led by the redoubtable Hope Mapple. So the gala opening, to which all the disaffected parties have been invited, promises to be quite an event - not least because the amply upholstered Hope Mapple is planning a disruptive streak protest. But Hope's lightning dash is unexpectedly upstaged by a far more shocking the discovery of a recently murdered body on the premises. The victim is a local woman, and for Chief Inspectory Markby and his guest Meredith Mitchell what had promised to be a diverting summer treat suddenly turns into a horribly serious affair ...