On Charles Paine’s grave, the inscription reads:

The watcher’s heart,

It stops, it starts,

When a dancer falls...

Elliot Paine refuses to believe twin brother Charles, a demon Morris Dancer, died by accident. 'Zig' Batten, now a private investigator, reluctantly takes the case - despite Morris Dance seeming a hare-brained ritual to him.

When a chorus girl is viciously attacked, and the death of a second Morris Dancer comes to light, Zig and his old CID Sergeant, now Inspector Ball, begin to wonder why dancers - Morris and otherwise - have suddenly become an endangered species.

Investigations, private and public, reveal a soup of lies, domestic violence, infidelity and revenge, and unearth the darker past of Charles Paine. When Zig flies to an international festival in Greece - in the dubious company of Elliot Paine’s Morris Dance group - not even the help of Grigoris, Zig’s old Greek police pal, is enough to avert danger or unlock the puzzle.

Back in Somerset, when knots unravel, Zig and Ball are prematurely relieved.

They should know by now - crime is rarely as straightforward as it seems...