Life was a bed of roses for Patrick Aldermann when Great Aunt Florence collapsed into her Madame Louis Laperrieres and he inherited Rosemont House with its splendid gardens.

But when his boss, 'Danny' Dick Elgood, suggested to Peter Pascoe that Aldermann was a murderer - then retracted the accusation - the inspector was left with a thorny problem.

By then the Police Cadet Singh, Mid-Yorkshire's first Asian copper, had dug up some very interesting information about Patrick's elegant wife, Daphne.

Superintendent Dalziel, meanwhile, was attempting to relive the days of Empire with Singh as his tea-wallah.