There comes a time in every teacher's life when he must face his Nemesis - the four-yearly Ofsted Inspection. But surely the murder of one of the team is going just a bit too far?

There comes a time in every teacher's life when he must face his Nemesis - the four-yearly Ofsted Inspection. The team arrives at Leighford High one glorious summer and proceeds to stick its collective nose into various classrooms. The immediate problem of Head of Sixth Form, Peter Maxwell, is the attractive and vivacious Sally Meninger, a Humanities expert who proceeds to cast aspersions on Maxwell's metier as a teacher. Out on the town one night to relieve the tension, the Head of Sixth Form finds her in an intimate situation with her fellow Inspector, Alan Whiting.

On the third day, with the atmosphere at the High School decidedly fraught, Whiting is found stabbed to death in the office set aside for the Inspection team. The police are called in and Maxwell cannot help but notice that Sally is not as distraught at Whiting's death as might be expected. It emerges that her private life is somewhat irregular - a view reinforced when Maxwell catches her in flagrante with his Headmaster, James Diamond. Events move quickly and Diamond is arrested on suspicion of the murder of Whiting

But is it that simple? Aided by his inside informant, lover DS Jacquie Carpenter, Maxwell sets out to prove that his colleague is innocent. And the only way to do it is to take on the Inspectors one by one...

Genre: Mystery