Tom Barnaby joins the Causton Chamber of Commerce trip to Brighton as he is suspicious of dodgy mayor Hicks' plan to buy coastal land on which to build chalets. Also opposed to the plan is Lady Matilda William, who has received threatening letters, as have the local vicar, oily property developer Hugh Dalgleish and hotelier Jenny Russell. Lady Matilda is descended from Richard of Guillaume, a ruthless contemporary of William the Conqueror. She believes that her son Richard, last of the line and brain-damaged for twenty years, was the victim of ancestral jealousy. In Brighton Dalgleish is murdered with a sword stolen from Guillaume's tomb and Hicks is arrested for fraud. Having learnt how Richard came by his accident Barnaby is convinced that Richard and not the property scam is the cause of yet another victim being claimed by the sword of Guillaume. Written by don @ minifie-1

Two years previously in the village of Milton Cross, a feudal estate owned by benevolent landlord Edward Milton, tailor Gerald Woodley died of a heart attack. Now his widow Sonia is keen to confess to the Reverend Morland that she did not call the ambulance immediately when her abusive husband collapsed but she is knocked unconscious and stabbed to death on the way to see him. It becomes apparent that she stumbled upon a deadly secret and when she passed this on to a second person they both became the victims of the made-to-measure murders. Written by don @ minifie-1

At a Wild West show in Ford Florey, Faye Lennox is murdered. She was the estate manager and lover of unpopular farmer Jack Fincher, who is engaged in a long-standing dispute with neighbour Silas Burbage over a piece of waste-land. Soon afterwards Fincher is lassoed and dragged to his death. There is no shortage of suspects - the Burbage family, long-suffering wife Susan who is seemingly very close to stepson Leo, Dan Malko, who wants the waste-land as a permanent travellers' site and Mary Morgan, whose dog Fincher shot. Jude Langham, a local craftsman who blames Fincher for his father's death, claims to have the document which will settle ownership and he is attacked by an intruder out to steal it. He had made phone calls to the three parties interested in the land just before his attack. But one is also murdered and another person will die before Barnaby works out who is responsible for blood on the saddle. Written by don @ minifie-1

Driving down a country lane at night, Joyce believes she has hit somebody but there is no evidence to support this. However, unpopular village librarian Gerald Ebbs is found murdered in a nearby graveyard, of which he was voluntary caretaker. Most of the graves are for T.B. patients from an adjacent but long disused sanatorium. Assistant librarian Sarah Sharp benefits from the death of Gerald, who was frequently at odds with ghost walks organizer Jeff Bowmaker. Bowmaker runs tours through the graveyard and is having affairs with two married women, landlady Alice Carver and historian Faith Kent. When Joyce joins a ghost walk which explores the sanatorium a second victim is claimed, enabling Barnaby to discover how his wife believed she had disturbed the silent land. Written by don @ minifie-1

Teen-aged Zoe Stock, a brilliant pianist, is attending a music school run by the Fielding family when she believes she sees a woman drown herself in the river, having left her baby on the bank. When the police arrive there is nothing to support her claim but Barnaby recalls that a mystery woman died in identical circumstances eighteen years earlier. Her body was found by Catholic priest Father Gregory, outside whose church an attempt is made to kill Zoe. A lucrative prize awaits the young musician adjudged the best by the Fieldings and it is assumed that another student is responsible. Written by don @ minifie-1

Kindly magistrate Gerald Farquharson throws a party in Midsomer Morchard to celebrate local boy John Kinsella winning the world middle-weight title. Guests include local solicitor Giles Braithwaite, his nosy secretary Iris and Grace, tarty wife of Kinsella's abrasive manager Frank Bishop. Gerald, the Bishops - separately - and Sebastian, who is not Gerald's son but the product of his late wife's affair, all want to see Giles urgently but he is murdered and his office ransacked. Sebastian's wife Camilla is pregnant but Sebastian is not the father. In fact he is gay and had had an affair with Giles, for which Iris is blackmailing him. At a reconstruction of a Victorian prize fight in Gerald's gardens, Bishop is also murdered, having sacked John's trainer and Grace's lover Teddy, who, with Grace, was planning to take over John's management behind Frank's back. Iris is the third and last victim of a killer who has gambled rather too much on the outcome of the noble art. Written by don @ minifie-1

In the village of Great Pelfe Maureen Stubbs from the Midsomer Conservation Society is stabbed to death after openly accusing builder Geoff Rogers and councillor James Otley of conspiring to ruin the look of the village by rushing through a plan to build modern housing. Supporters of the plan are targeted by a burglar. There is most definitely a scam being carried out behind the supposed housing development plan but is the murderer a supporter of the scam rubbing out all opposition or a dissenter,claiming Not in my Back Yard? Written by don @ minifie-1

Barnaby accompanies Joyce to Swaveley Manor health spa,run by fussy Luke Archbold and his wife Phoebe.Luke is in a right of way dispute with Phoebe's former best friend,Miranda Bedford,who has written a novel,and her volatile handyman Carter Smith. Demanding guest Kitty Pottinger is found drowned in the flotation chamber and soon afterwards Luke is killed by a faulty weights machine. The spa faces closure and evidence points to Carter having killed Luke,though Barnaby believes he was framed. Kitty's husband Kenny disappears but is found,having survived an attempt on his life. Before Barnaby retires,handing over to his cousin John,he has exposed a fake medium and discovered that the killer had dual motives - hatred for the Pottingers and a need to stop Miranda 's book being published - both instances being fit for murder. Written by don @ minifie-1