When Katherine Peters' body was found only metres away from the circus grounds, it didn't take long for the rumours to circulate around Meadowbank, implying they were responsible for the murder. It made no difference there was no evidence to support these accusations; to the old die-hards, many of whom had lived in Meadowbank all their lives, the arrival of Beppe Bortoletto's circus the day before bode no well for the old market town, this belief reinforced later in the day when they heard of the fatal accident of one of the circus' trapeze artists. Chief Inspector Graham Ford, Brenda Master's successor, together with Inspector Ash, soon learned he was investigating two murders and even to his impartial and unbiased mind, was considering the possibility of a connection between the two deaths. Graham and Ian's enquiries were continally hampered by the all too-familiar presence of the journalist, Carol Cliff, determined to be more than one step ahead of the police and totally without scruples of how she intended to achieve this. There was no shortage of suspects, but it wasn't until another murder came to light, one committed eighteen years earlier, that the authorities, with the assistance of both MI6 and Interpol, were in a position to eliminate any of them, but they were still not satisfied; they needed more information, mainly a motive. By a circuitous route, with a number of surprising twists and turns extending beyond Meadowbank, they finally reached a satisfactory conclusion enabling the town of Meadowbank to get their lives back to some semblance of normality.