Alex Tanner has read enough mysteries to know that her latest case as a private investigator has all the trappings of an English classic: Rissington Abbey, an exclusive boarding school, a mysterious headmaster, and a drowned student. But it's her skill - and her cover - as a television researcher that helps her find out what really happened when the young boy died as she sifts through the conflicting stories of students, teachers, parents, and a local journalist, who offers some advice and an opinion of Rissington Abbey: "I'd call it evil." In her own headstrong, headlong way, Alex learns this for herself, not a minute too soon.