Michaelhouse is thrown into disorder when its ageing Master retires and the ambitious Runham secures the succession. Runham rapidly dismisses long-serving staff, antagonises the Fellows and begins an expensive programme of building work that threatens the college's finances.
When the new Master is found murdered beside the River Cam, few genuinely mourn him, but almost everyone has a motive. Matthew Bartholomew and Brother Michael investigate the election, the construction accounts and a series of suspicious deaths, knowing that the killer's scheme may damage Michaelhouse long after Runham's burial.