With her husband away on an England cricket tour of Pakistan, and the deadline for her MEd dissertation looming on the horizon, Sophie Rivers is in no mood for unwelcome distractions. Unfortunately, as a member of the university choir, she is finding it nigh on impossible to avoid them. It soon becomes apparent that the music faculty of the University of the West Midlands has more than its fair share of nutty professors and insecure students - and for some reason Sophie seems to have been appointed their unofficial guidance counsellor. But when the body of a professor turns up at a concert at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, all this fades into insignificance. Sophie's old friend, Di Chris Groom, calls on her insider knowledge to find out who - and what's - behind the killing.