Lecturers having it away with students, witches' sabbaths on the sand dunes, a body buried under a statue in the gardens, and a fresh rash of killings. All is not well at Holm Coultram College.

All is not well at Holm Coultram College: lecturers having affairs with students, witches' sabbaths, a body buried under a statue.

Detective Superintendent Dalziel, despite his cynical view of academics, doesn't feel murder fits in here - let alone a rash of killings. But when he and DS Pascoe are sent to investigate a disinterred corpse at Holm Coultram College, that's exactly what they find...