University of Oxford tutor and bestselling author Jason Verdoodt has it all: acclaim, women, moneyâŚand an enemy or two. When he's found dead at the bottom of the stairs during a celebratory reception at St Rumwold's College, many wonder if seething jealousy of his literary success has turned someone's mind to murder. Detective Chief Inspector Arthur St. Just becomes inescapably drawn into an investigation that takes him down the historic streets of Oxford and into the hallowed halls of its university. Alongside his fiancĂŠe, crime-fiction writer Portia De'Ath, he uncovers several motives for murdering the celebrated but insufferable Jasonâwhose next novel may be a threat to many in his orbitâand no shortage of suspects who are nursing a grudge from the first novel. Has someone decided to write revenge into the plot?