Physiotherapist Lizzie Faulkner is shot dead whilst on a spa weekend in the country. Local lad Robert Doran was shooting badgers in the area but his bullets do not match the murder weapon. Joe nonetheless feels guilty upon meeting him as, eight years earlier, Joe had arrested Robert, who was imprisoned, Joe later believing he was innocent. Lizzie's weekend was a present from architect Corinne Franks though her husband Andrew and business partner Tim Hopkins refuse to believe the death was the result of local opposition to building a holiday village in the area. When Corinne is killed in a hit and run Vera realizes that she had been the intended victim all along and visits Justin Bishop, whose wife had died in a road crash some months earlier. Corinne had been the other driver and, though the coroner exonerated her from blame, Justin disagreed. Vera is intrigued to learn that Justin's schoolboy son Sam had been friends with Corinne behind his father's back and that she had bought him ... Written by don @ minifie-1

On the eve of his retirement surgeon Dan Marsden is shot dead and his daughters Karen and Mira taken. His widow Laura tells Vera that Mira is an Iraqi war orphan on whom Dan operated before the couple adopted her. An iconic picture of her was taken by war photographer Jonah Regan, whom Vera visits and learns that Jonah had tried to adopt Mira but failed, due to the unstable behaviour that had caused his wife to leave him. New recruit Barry finds a link with Iraqi Malik, an illegal immigrant recently smuggled into the area. Karen is located and freed but Barry is killed and Laura wounded by the kidnapper who was returning for diabetic Mira's insulin. It becomes evident that the kidnapper is known to Mira and she is a willing abductee but Vera must stop them leaving the country and work out how he knew where to find her. Written by don @ minifie-1

Gideon Frane plunges to his death in a lake, a human torch though it transpires that he was poisoned which drove him mad, accidentally immolating himself. An anonymous letter 'You Will Burn in Hell' leads to an ex-girlfriend Izzy following stalking complaints but, though her friend Kit admits to sending the letter, Vera eliminates him as a murder suspect. Gideon's former headmistress Vivienne Ripman tells Vera he was one of a group of 'golden lads and lasses' but an ex-girlfriend Amanda disappeared after a suicide attempt and another friend, Jamie, became a drug addict. Amanda contacts Vera to clear herself - she is now a nun at a convent whose head, Sister Benedict, has happy memories of teaching Vera. Jamie is located and is almost the victim of the same poison fed to Gideon. Vera notes that Colin Culvert, a teacher at Gideon's school, died in a car crash in 2007 and that Jamie, an heir to a fortune,has donated all his money to a charity researching spina bifida, a condition one of ... Written by don @ minifie-1

A man is stabbed to death outside a pub, his identity initially unknown though his unregistered car contains six thousand pounds in the boot. He was John Warnock, a former policeman recently returned home from London and working at Finches, a local brewery owned by Sam Hooper, boyfriend of John's sister Maggie, on whose farm John was staying. John was something of a ladies' man and married old flame Lisa Strachan was planning to elope with him. Her husband Ross, a violent man who had previously been arrested by John, is charged with assaulting him but was stealing lead from a church roof at the time of the murder and has an alibi. Vera learns that John had been hired to spy on Finches on behalf of a national firm anxious for a take-over but had been fired when no adverse evidence could be found and this was not the source of the six grand. It becomes apparent that John was blackmailing somebody, who eventually killed him but Vera finds that she has more than one suspect to choose from. Written by don @ minifie-1