Forthright, drink-loving Inspector Vera Stanhope and her young sergeant Joe Ashworth investigate when 15-year-old Luke Armstrong is strangled and placed in a bath strewn with flowers and candles. Luke's widowed mother Julie tells them that Luke's friend Tommy accidentally drowned some months earlier and initial suspicion falls on Tommy's father. But then teacher Lily Marsh is murdered, also throttled and dumped on a beach, surrounded by flowers. The body is found by a group of botanists, including husband and wife Peter and Felicity Calvert, into whose beach house Lily was due to move, and Gary Wright, a womanising friend of Julie. Lily had a sugar daddy who paid money into her account and Vera learns that Tommy had photographed her with this man and had drowned trying to save his camera when it fell into the sea. She deduces that he is rubbing out evidence of the affair and believes the lover to be Peter Calvert. But was he the killer and, if not, was it a member of his adoring ... Written by don @ minifie-1

Sentenced for the murder of Abby, precocious young daughter of her lover Keith Mantel a decade earlier, Jeannie Long escapes from prison and, after a row with her father, kills herself. News of her death brings evidence that shows she was innocent, as she had long claimed, and Vera reopens the case. At a charity event where Keith pays tribute to Jeannie, Chris Winter, son of Jeannie's probation officer Robert, is murdered, having tried to contact ex-cop Caroline Fletcher, who arrested Jeannie and later had an affair with Keith. As Abby was a friend of the Winters, Vera suspects Chris was the killer but comes to realise that he was the witness, attempting to cover up for the real murderer. When Keith is attacked after exposing the secret of another family member, Vera now knows that the Winters are shielding one, if not two, murderers. Written by don @ minifie-1

Bella Furness is lured into a barn and murdered. Her body is found by environmentalist Anne Preece, who is researching reasons to prevent a quarry being dug nearby for a company headed by Godfrey Waugh, whom Vera discovers is having an affair with Anne. Bella opposed the quarry too but, with her death, her stepson Neville, whose business is failing, can sell the house. Bev McDonald is another suspect, as she blames Bella for the disappearance of her little son Lee twelve years earlier, though Bella's husband, Dougie, now a stroke victim, gave her an alibi. Vera learns from Dougie that Bella was about to change her mind and sell her house to Waugh, putting her at odds with reclusive fellow campaigner Edmund Fulwell, who has a secret of his own. Parent-child relationships hold the key to unlocking what becomes a double murder, as well as discovering the fate of Lee McDonald. Written by don @ minifie-1

Running from the killer of his single mother Margaret Wilde, eleven-year-old Adam is rescued by Vera though he can tell her nothing helpful except that he saw peacocks. Evidence suggests that the couple, perpetually on the move, were heading for Spain with a large sum of money. Margaret's married lover Bobby is the prime suspect but Vera is surprised when Adam points out Judge Tia Carmichael as a family friend though the judge claims not to know the Wildes. Her team discover that, years ago, Margaret changed her name from Carla Davies, having attacked the care home manager who abused her. She was defended by Tia Carmichael, then a barrister, who helped her change her identity, and a visit to the Carmichaels' home presents Vera with a surprising revelation. Written by don @ minifie-1