In the spring of 1926, the corpses of three men are found in shallow graves off the beaten path in Epping Forest ouside of London. Called in to lead the investigation, DCI Alec fletcher of Scotland Yard is under urgent orders from his supervisor at the Yark to accomplish two things: solve the mystery quickly, and keep his wife, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher far away from the case.

In 1925, the Honourable Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher, her husband, Alec Fletcher (a Scotland Yard Detective) and their new twin infant children inherit and move to a new, larger house on the outskirts of London proper, in a stage of slight disrepair (thanks to an aged, now deceased, uncle). Set in a small circle of houses and a communal garden, it seems a near idyllic setting. That is until a dead body turns up half-hidden under the bushes of the communal...