A well-known barrister dies in a bizarre incident at a village pub, seemingly killed by poison on the tip of a dart in the course of a bar-room trick. Alleyn has to deal with a mystery which is not at all what it seems to be. Was the death murder, and, if so, what prompted it? Everyone who was in the bar insists the death was an accident, but surprisingly most of them also prove to have a motive for murder.