A university reunion party that DI Richard Poole is attending is brought to an abrupt halt when one of the group is murdered with an ice pick.

Former surgeon Emma Redding is found dead in her room at the local retirement home, the door locked from the inside which suggests suicide. However her fiancé Colin Campbell and friends Judith Musgrove and Pam and Jim Chandler all say she was looking forward to the evening's dance. Jim, an old friend, was secretly seeing Emma but explains his reasons whilst Colin had invested money with Judith in a seemingly worthless building scheme which Emma had discovered. Another resident, David Whitton, admits that his daughter died whilst Emma was operating on her. As ever Goodman, having proved that Emma was murdered, unmasks the killer, despite the distraction of a visit from his wife Sally, seeking reconciliation. Goodman, however, decides to stay on the island and confesses to Fidel his attraction to Camille.