Craig and Cindy Barrington, a young handsome Australian couple, have been posted to the exotic country of Zambia. He is to take over the directorship of a banking group. He is blond, pill-popping and a muscle-building hunk of thirty four years. He is experiencing odd symptons of ill-health. He collapses after being at a night club. Three expatriate wives befriend Cindy only to find she is unhappy and wants to divorce Craig. Has she committed murder? Detective Chief Inspector Phiri Milemba, hindered by an incompetent young female constable, is inundated with cases. Deaths and kidnapping unfold. At the same time as solving cases, he and his small team of detectives soon ascertain there is more than one person wanting Craig Barrington dead, including his wife, Cindy. They all have motive and the wherewithal to kill. It is initially the hospital pathologist and then the forensic pathologist, along with forensic and ballistic experts that establish who the killers are.