As part of a two-week staff exchange scheme, Peter 'Mad Max' Maxwell is swapping the delights of Leighford High for the altogether more sophisticated charms of local private school, Grimmonds. This is a school where the teachers wear gowns, a school with interhouse rugby, debating societies and fencing lessons. It's a far cry from his familiar comprehensive - Grimmods is steeped in tradition and dripping with money. But within a day of stepping through the imposing school gates, Maxwell has yet again stumbled upon an unnatural death. One of the Housemasters has fallen from the school roof - but did he jump or was he pushed? Two days later another teacher is found floating in the lake and this time it's definitely murder. As the pack of journalists at the gates grows and parents start removing their children from the school, the Headmaster has his work cut out to protect Grimmonds' reputation. And when DS Jacquie Carpenter, Maxwell's girlfriend, gets assigned to the case he finds himself caught up in a complex police investigation and a tangled web of secrets.