When rugby union star Sam Connon's wife is found murdered at her Yorkshire home, everyone at Wetherton Rugby Club is under suspicion. Dalziel, himself a club member, is sent in to investigate. The plot thickens when Dalziel learns that Sam's wife Mary was receiving prank letters and phone calls from a fellow member.

When the skeleton of a college principle who died five years before in Austria is found under her own memorial, Dalziel and Pascoe are called in. And when a second body turns up, an air of suspicion descends upon the campus as a world of academic rivalry and staff room treachery, blackmail, mistaken identity and suicide is uncovered.

Peter Pascoe and Ellie Soper finally take the plunge and get married, so Dalziel decides to have a holiday of his own. That is until the son of his hostess goes missing and the discovery of a body in the lake. It's all left down to Dalziel to solve the problems of fraud, murder and family conspiracy and get to the 'heart' of the matter.

While visiting old friends in rural Oxfordshire, Pascoe and a heavily pregnant Ellie are devastated when they discover the bodies of their hostess Rose and two of her guests all shot dead and another friend missing. Meanwhile in Yorkshire, Dalziel is investigating a series of burglaries, in which the thief leaves a bizarre calling card, and discovers a link with a flamboyant antiques trader.

The death of a young girl at a local fair is the third recent case of bizarre ritual murder for Dalziel and Pascoe. The serial killer is known as the Choker because of his habit of strangling his victims. As the murders continue, the police turn to a fortune-teller for clues. Meanwhile, Pascoe's home life is in disarray as he tries to come to terms with fatherhood.

Flamboyant businessman and Dalziel's old friend, Dick Elgood, accuses one of his employees, rose-enthusiast Patrick Alderman, of trying to murder him. When Pascoe starts to investigate, he discovers a trail of suspicious deaths in Alderman's past. Meanwhile, attending a police conference, Dalziel bumps into an old flame, but his fumbling attempts to rekindle the passion result in a bloody nose.