A long forgotten book conceals a dangerous secret. James Faraday is about to turn eighty and his daughter has organised a gathering of friends and family at Woodford Grange to celebrate the big day. There will be a marquee in the garden, plenty of food and drink, and a huge stack of birthday presents. One particular gift, however, is proving difficult to track down. For Simon Turing, who works in the local bookshop, it is just another order; an out of print book of wartime statistics. It only takes a day or two for him to locate a copy. As soon as the book arrives, however, things start to go awry. The shop is burgled. Simon is knocked off his bike on his way to the Grange. And a worker at the estate suffers a fatal accident. Is it just a run of bad luck or are more sinister forces at work? Simon is about to find out.

The corpse was snoring softly behind the sofa. It is early November and the Wynmouth Fire Festival is in full flow. A dozen or more giant statues are about to be put to the torch. The locals jokingly refer to it as "the Bonfire Night Massacre". Fireworks and bonfires are the order of the day, and Simon Turing is looking forward to seeing the display. He is in town performing at a local theatre, a revival of a fifties mystery play. All is not well at the venue, however. The theatre is in financial trouble and there are tensions backstage. The management needs a good box office if the theatre is to survive the winter. Luckily, the fire festival is a significant draw to the town. But when the theatre's own contribution to the festivities erupts into flames a couple of days earlier than planned, it does not bode well for the rest of the run.

Whatever you do, don't eat the paella! Simon Turing is on holiday in southern Spain and things are not going at all well. The hire car breaks down on the way from the airport and, while phoning for help, Simon hears a cry of distress from a nearby orange grove. He arrives to find a man lying dead in a ditch. By the time the authorities arrive, however, the body has disappeared. The police think Simon must have disturbed a tramp who scarpered when he went to call for an ambulance. Either that or he is suffering from sunstroke. But Simon knows a dead body when he sees one. Worse is to come when he and his girlfriend arrive at the villa of a family friend. All is not well in the Franklin household. Could somebody here have had something to do with the body in the ditch? And could a member of the family be about to suffer a similar fate?