Trama

The investigation into an elaborate suicide leads Barnaby to suspect the dead man may have had help pulling the trigger.

Barnaby and Troy investigate an apparent suicide that is just a tad too elaborate for them to accept at face value. The man had been under treatment for depression, his wife had recently divorced him and he owed money to a good many people. Barnaby's doubts are confirmed when the autopsy reveals the man was drugged. There are no end of suspects: the ex-wife, her soon to be new husband who also happens to be a dispensing chemist and the doctor and counselor who treated him at a nearby clinic. When other residents of Misomer Worthy are killed, the detectives must try to determine the common link among all of the victims.—garykmcd

A peaceful night in Midsomer Worthy is shattered by a gunshot, and now dead Martin Wroath appears to have committed suicide. DCI Barnaby investigates and has doubts Wroath took his own life. He goes for help to an old colleague: Jane Moore, a widowed doctor who runs a cottage hospital. While citizens in Midsomer Worthy go on marching their bands and hosting fetes, Troy and Cully's romantic tension comes to a head. The guilty party claims more victims, and after causing havoc and despair in the village, Barnaby at last is able to identify who's responsible and bring justice, even if doing so has tragic consequences for his old friend.—garinator1

When DCI Barnaby investigates the suicide of a man who was universally disliked in the village, he begins to question whether the man actually killed himself. Possible motives include his ex-wife's desire to stop being pestered by him, her current lover's wish to be rid of him once and for all, the man's miserly treatment of all those he came in contact with, and even a non-motive motive: death by local-loony-bin-inmate. When other murders follow, some of those motives become less likely, and Barnaby enlists the aid of an old friend who now runs the local sanitarium and uses her powers of observation to do some profiling of the murderer.—Ron Kerrigan ,mvg@whidbey.com>

Barnaby investigates a death which looks very much like suicide. The dead man was a troubled and depressed gambler on a losing streak, but Barnaby's nose tells him to look for a murderer. During the investigation he recognizes someone from his past, in the shape of Dr Jane Moore.—Anonymous