Death at the Deanery - sudden and unnatural death. Someone should have seen it coming. For even before Stuart Latimer arrives as the new Dean of Malbury Cathedral, shock waves reverberate through the tightly-knit and insular Cathedral Close, heralding sweeping changes in a community that is not open to change. And the reality is even worse than the expectation - the Dean's naked ambition and ruthless behaviour alienate everyone in the Chapter: the Canons, gentle John Kingsley, vague Rupert Greenwood, pompous Philip Thetford, and especially Subdean Arthur Brydges-ffrench, a traditionalist who resists change most strongly of all. Others in the Close have reason to fear the Dean as well: Jeremy Bartlett, the Cathedral Architect, who is playing a dangerous game of double-dealing; Evelyn Marsden, the spinster whose home is at stake; Rowena Hunt, head of the Friends of the Cathedral, whose own ambitions drive her into an unholy alliance with the Dean; and even Police Inspector Michael Drewitt, who spends more of his off-duty time in the Close than a married man should.
