Barnaby and DS Ben Jones investigate the death of Simon Bright who is found dead inside an old World War II vintage Humber parked at an abandoned airfield. From all appearances, the death appears to be a *******, but the pathologist determines that the man suffered a severe blow to the dead and may in fact have been unconscious when he died of carbon monoxide poisoning. Simon Bright's girlfriend, Laura Sharp, is nowhere to be found, but the death of the aging village Lothario and the attempted murder of another of her friends narrows the list of possible murderers somewhat. Barnaby is convinced that one of Laura's ex-lovers is responsible but given her rather active life, the question becomes which one?