When the body of an amateur flautist, Tony Miller, shot by his own gun, is found on the secluded estate of Lord & Lady Bottrell, it is assumed that he killed himself. But Wycliffe senses there is more to the case than first meets the eye. As he unravels the dead man's last days, another mystery is revealed - the disappearance of a maid from the Bottrell household. Family feuds and illicit relationships are uncovered - and then another body is found.

A Cornish undertaker suddenly disappears. The missing man's body is found, washed up on the rocks, and a murder inquiry begins. A link is suspected between the undertaker's death and a strange local summer ritual, and the mystery ends with a figure strapped to a burning wheel plunging over the cliffs.

Alex Keir is distraught when his wife Alison goes missing, but Wycliffe is sceptical of his grief, until a ransome note is found. The case of apparent kidnapping then takes a dramatic turn when Mrs Keir is found dead and smelling of alcohol at the wheel of a crashed car.

When a man's virtually unidentifiable body is washed ashore, Wycliffe is baffled when two separate women claim it is that of their missing husbands.

When an attempt is made to steal a headless skeleton from an archaelogical dig, Wycliffe discovers an estate steeped in archaic values. The identification of the skeleton unsettles the land-owning Rawle family, whose days of sovereignty in the community are fading.

When a fishing boat goes down taking one of the crew with it , Kersey and Lane discover a fishing community that is struggling to survive under the strain of legislation, as well as a new competitive edge to their working relationship.

When a young woman is found strangled, a pathologist is struck by the similarities to a string of other unsolved murders. Wyclife and his team have to unearth 11-year old evidence to see if they can trace a link.

Tragic events unfold after a wedding with a bizarre guest list: the bride and groom, who have only known each other for three weeks, advertised for guests to attend the ceremony in Penzance. Next day, one of the couple is found stabbed to death in their luxurious honeymoon hotel.

In a police nursing home, Wycliffe ponders the future after the attempt on his life. Meanwhile, Kersey investigates a salmon poacher's suspicious death. Acting DCI Lane is tempted to move on and up.