Virginia Blakeney's nightly walk home through the peaceful lanes of Upper Utton takes a terrifying turn when she hears ominous footsteps stalking her in the darkness. Seeking a shortcut through the local graveyard, she witnesses a ghastly sight - a skeleton-faced figure exhuming a fresh grave under the moonlight. Virginia is no stranger to mysteries, still seeking answers about her missing brother. But now - what is behind this illicit grave-digging? And is there a connection with her brother's disappearance in such baffling, mysterious circumstances? The ghastly goings-on in a country churchyard provide an arresting opening, rapidly compounded by disappearances, bigamy, blackmail, murder, and grave-robbing, all connected to the local squires, the Blakeney family. The local Superintendent and Inspector Dunster of Scotland Yard lead the investigation, paralleled by an intrepid reporter, Tony Mayfield, with the plot rushing them all from one perilous situation to the next. The tiny community can't help but fearfully wonder which villain is behind these horrors - and who else is on Death's dance card?