When Norm Cooper, the straightlaced new dean of Canon Flubert, turns up dead, Robert Amiss and the Baroness find themselves investigating radical gay priests, feminist witches, and evil cult members, who all had much to gain from Norm Cooper's demise.
The first message sent to Tom Thorne's phone was just a picture - the blurred image of a man's face, but Thorne had seen enough dead bodies to know that the man was no longer alive. But who was he? Who sent the photograph? And why? While the technical experts attempt to trace the sender, Thorne searches the bulletins for a reported death that matches the photograph. Then another picture arrives.