When Rosemary Sheffield suddenly and inexplicably lost her religious faith, it was obvious it could not be a merely personal matter: she was the wife of a vicar. When, on a brief holiday to get her ideas in order, she formed a sad but affectionate relationship with a young refugee from the former Yugoslavia, she ensured that the knives would be out for her in her husbands parish back home in Leeds. Amond the parishioners of St. Saviour’s charity is not the order of the day, and very soon knives are out. Mrs Harridance is after Rosemary’s positions in the parish, abetted by the sweetly simple Selena Meadowes. And then there is Stephen Mills, known to the Sheffield family as Dark Satanic Mills: what is his attitude - or more precisely, what is he up to?

When a body is found after a church fete and party it is up to Detective Constable Charlie Peace, and his boss Mike Oddie, to discover whether Rosemarys spiritual crisis has led to murder, or do more worldly concerns lie as the root of the crime?