"Meet Major Bricket, an infrequent resident of Highfield House...In the past the Major's work assignments, frequently in foreign countries, have prevented him from spending much time there...But now the Major has retired and has come home for good...and what a homecoming it is, for lying spreadeagled on his lawn in the summer sunshine is the corpse of a clown. The circus is in Stunston Peveril for the annual village fair, yet none of their quota of clowns is missing--or at least, nobody is saying. Could the body be that of an unfortunate early guest at the village's highlight of the social calendar, the Fincham Abbey Costume Ball?"--