In village of Midsomer Worthy, classy municipal employee Martin Barrett is fatally shot from outside his kitchen window, his dinner date slips out having observed the masked killer flee by motorcycle. Barnaby and Jones Barnaby leaves Jones deal with haughty estate farmer, philanthropist and police committee member Sir John Waverley, while Tom travels with Joyce to the seaside of Fennacombe Bay, finding fisherman Peter Hatchard most helpful as spy, neighbor to the holiday house of marine geologist Richard Florian, who is diving after some treasure. When both detectives discover Barrett was an expert blackmailer, central to gossip, not least through milkman Reg and the omnipresent cleaning lady, his victims become prime suspects. They work out how Martin discovered and exploited whose secrets, and all accomplices, then set traps.
—KGF Vissers