A quiet lodger; a secret vice; a fortune-seeker who will stop at nothing.Cambridge, England. 1905.A neighbour's quiet lodger dies in an unlucky fall, but Vita finds clues that suggest a complex and dangerous secret life, and doubts his death was an accident.Forced to investigate when the police refuse to listen, she finds a connection with a second sudden death - that of a wealthy and eccentric local lady.As usual, Vita's discoveries infuriate the police and the murderer, but they also cast doubt on the findings of a police surgeon whose good opinion is vital if she is to continue her own scientific studies.With no one else willing to take on the killer, Vita must act alone.