During the 12th Annual Midsomer St. Michael Literary Festival, local author Richard Rackham is found dead at the bottom of the stairs in his house. The pathologist confirms that his neck was broken before he fell and it is apparent that his laptop computer is missing. When book editor Neville Williams is also killed, Barnaby and Scott learn that he and Rackham were lovers. As the body count keeps rising, the police find multiple motives and several possible killers. Several characters were involved in affairs and some were involved in lucrative financial scams. The solution to the crimes is found when Barnaby unearths an author who has been writing under a pseudonym but who was about to let their true identity be known.