There are certainly dark secrets to uncover, and Barnaby has to determine whether the victim's part in a scandal years earlier at Causton police station, is key to the mystery behind his death. Barnaby and Jones need to be quick on the draw to track down the murderer, and soon begin to wonder whether a dispute over land was the motive, or something far more sinister, especially when more people are killed, with methods linked to the Wild West. But Grady has a solid alibi. It soon becomes clear the manuscript is the key to solving the murders, when a valuable one that had been sold cheaply at auction, shows signs it had been written by another hand, as more murders slowly follow the first. When Stella's more famous sister returns after a 40-year family rift, the killings escalate, each reminiscent of a movie plot. Barnaby is mystified by the unexplained amount of cash in account and the appearance of an unshaven Ben Jones, calling himself Jack Morris and with Leo's widow when her house is burgled.
Things soon come to a head when independent environmental supervisor, Frank Hopkirk, is found stabbed to death at a Jubb's Timber Yard, the site of the new supermarket, by a pair of children. Suddenly, Barnaby is violently ill as the body of missing man Peter Slim is found floating in the cider vat. But as he attempts to de-stress, a woman is found dead in the flotation chamber. It turns out the dead man was married to the ex-wife of Guy Sandys, the wealthy owner of the publication. Barnaby soon gets to work tracking down the killer, but it seems someone is trying to implicate the detective in the murder.
When they discover that Barrett was an expert blackmailer, his victims become prime suspects for his death - from a local pub landlord, a cleaner, a prominent member of the police board, to a former marine geologist. Owner William Carnarvon suspects the Farmers' Wives Association of trying to destroy his business, while his wife Diana frets over her mother Matilda, one of the victims. Dudgeon permanently joined the show in 2011 following Nettles's departure. Meanwhile Kinsella's trainer Teddy Molloy has his own hidden agenda. At the Midsomer Abbas spring fayre which celebrates its friendship with Midsomer Herne, Barnaby and Jones sample the local cider, while temperance preacher Norman Grigor calls on residents to repent of their drunken ways.
Barnaby and Jones soon discover intrigue, sexual tension and academic rivalry are rife among the star-seeking community. The show is currently in its 20th season. As Barnaby and Troy reopen the murder case, they soon find themselves dealing with the village's upper classes, who are none too willing to give much away. But he and Barnaby soon start digging into an old case involving the death of a couple in a boat explosion. When a re-enactment of a Victorian boxing match gets heated, and Kinsella's manager is found dead in his home's gym, the pair attempt to determine who is responsible, although Barnaby's judgement seems to be clouded on this one. It's not long before they discover hidden truths about the commune's founding and some of its members. Even Isobel's close family and members of a local fly fishing group are suspects as they investigate all possible angles.
Their investigation soon turns up a web of sex, blackmail and lies, and the possibility that the murder could be connected to a shooting accident two years ago, which claimed another woman's life. It isn't long, before murder does occur, and the detectives attempt to fathom what occurred in the drowning, and the present day murders. Then it comes to light the victim recently announced plans to move the event to a new location, which would have cost local entrepreneur Frank Wainwright dearly. He soon realises the paintings are not what they seem — but the death toll is rising. Yet their investigation also turns up a wealth of secrets, lies, affairs, blackmail, and a mysterious death that occurred shortly before a break-in, before matters are complicated when another murder occurs during the cricket match. Crime and Punishment The bludgeoning death of Bleakridge's butcher points to a series of robberies the victim had been investigating. Things become even more complex when Rex's body is found in a nearby river, bearing wounds that suggest he was murdered.
When a second murder occurs on an assault course at a local cottage hospital, in which Wroath was a patient, the detective suspects a link between the two murders, and soon finds a wealth of hatred, jealously and lies, before discovering that rope in the village is mysteriously disappearing. Despite the villagers' best efforts to keep the murder quiet so as to not ruin their chances in the competition, several further deaths occur eventually bringing Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby back several decades to uncover the killer. . Meanwhile, Troy, recently having earned a promotion to Inspector, tackles his last case in the county by visiting the village to investigate a more recent murder - that of a youth, one of several who had caused problems for the villagers, who had been shot with a gun he and his friends had been using the night before to shoot wild animals. Most people dismiss his disappearance completely but when he doesn't turn up, a search is conducted and a severed hand, confirmed to be Gregory's, turns up in the woods.
It soon transpires the women of Midsomer Market's reading club were secretly investing in the stock market and had been doing well, but that two of the members were outvoted from selling their shares. There are certainly possible suspects in the murder and attempt on Kirkwood, from Delyth's children, who oppose the engagement, Delyth's husband, and more, as the detectives investigate things, in hopes of uncovering the truth before a major walk is to take place on Mount Snowdon. First appearance of baby Betty Barnaby. When more people suddenly die from bouts of spontaneous human combustion, the detectives soon suspect someone is using the illusion of witchcraft to cover up the real motive behind the murders. Particularly when it becomes clear the bird watcher had been photographing suspicious activity of late. With the serial killer still at large, could history be repeating itself? When Kate discovers the safety wires have been sabotaged, a murder investigation is launched.
The Bleakridge Watch patrols the streets of their remote village, exposing anyone who steps outside the law. Although George Bullard is adamant his death is from natural causes, the case is far from simple when Freddy's solicitor is deliberately killed in a house fire shortly afterwards and Freddy's will goes missing. Confused, Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby and D. The detectives soon learn that a feud is raging between local occult practitioner Ernest Balliol and famous writer Aloysius Wilmington. It quickly transpires that the victim not only had a secret lover, but had also smuggled a rare, priceless, one-of-a-kind orchid - the Yellow Roth - out of Borneo. When one of the members is initially suspected of the murder, but later murdered a short while after she is cleared of suspicions, Barnaby discovers the second victim was having secret affairs, leading him to believe the killer is privy to secrets within the village.
Although they assume the motive was over the sale of the horse, they soon find a darker motive when one of the other owners is murdered in the exact same fashion, but with a pennant of cloth left in their mouth. Barnaby soon turns out to be right when the poacher's father is found murdered in the woods with his own shotgun. But in order to investigate the matter further, Jones is forced to work undercover, and infiltrate the local group of Freemasons in the village. With their honeymoon cancelled, the Fitzroys must contend with a police presence in their home, as Barnaby and Jones try to learn more about the family history. In addition to strife between members of the family, the factory workers are outraged at the loss of their jobs.