- DCI Tom Barnaby: Wouldn't be a bad spot, though, would it, for a secret tryst? All that straw.
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: Hmm.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: What?
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: Personally, I think straw is a bit overrated, sir.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Why?
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: It's prickly.
- Hugo Balcombe: I've spent a lifetime trying to fathom the complexities of jungle ecosystems, but they are nothing compared to the machinations of this village... Just extraordinary!
- DCI Tom Barnaby: When we were with you last, you gave the impression that your daughter may have had a few enemies.
- Archie Townsend: There are a lot of people who would say that she left the world a worse place than when she came into it, but she was my daughter.
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: [about Cherrie] There's no way she could be protecting Joan?
- DCI Tom Barnaby: What, like some sort of Women's Institute Mafia?
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Troy, if you're going to drive innocent members of the public off the road, try not to pick on influential multi-millionaires, will you?
- Sally Rickworth: What was all that about you looking in my bag? You lied.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Well, she was trying to frame you.
- Sally Rickworth: It's anything goes, isn't it?
- DCI Tom Barnaby: I'm sorry you had to hear about it so, ah, so bluntly.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: And how did Joan Farley take it, ah, Neil's death?
- Cherrie Balcombe: Joan would never send threatening notes. She's a member of the Women's Institute.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Medlar jelly. Medlar...
- Joyce Barnaby: What is it?
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Someone described their friend as 'the meddler'. I wonder if she meant; one who meddles or the fruit?
- Joyce Barnaby: There are quite a few trees over Malham way; in the bigger gardens. Quite popular locally.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: [reading aloud] 'Medlars spread on straw ripen by their own corruption.'
- [last lines]
- Joyce Barnaby: Medlar jelly.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Mm?
- Joyce Barnaby: Try some. Go on.
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Hm. That's very nice. Perhaps you should, uh, save it for special occasions.
- Joyce Barnaby: Well, that's really not necessary. We've got two dozen jars. Just tuck in.
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: So how old's this Melissa Townsend, then?
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Twenty-two.
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: A bit young, isn't it?
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Her father wanted her to get used to the responsibilities of property ownership early on. Seems she didn't do much in the way of majors.
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: She passed the first landlord's exam, then.
- Sergeant Gavin Troy: You know them?
- DCI Tom Barnaby: Yeah. Cherrie's a legendary jam maker. He's an ex-botanist. He was a great explorer in his time. They're both bats, of course. But she does do a very good tea.
- [first lines]
- Cherrie Balcombe: The district nurse is with him now. And the doctor's on his way.
- Sally Rickworth: I'm sorry. He's gone.
- Joan Farley: I know he's gone. And we all know who killed him.