When the body of Eric Ramsey, ex-doorkeeper of the House of Lords, is found floating in the Thames, Lynley and Havers have to probe into the affairs of the House itself. They discover that Ramsey’s death is connected with the disappearance of a crucial document for a defence contract, which he had passed on to someone shortly before his murder. It soon becomes clear to Lynley and Havers that the interests of some of the most powerful men in the country are tied up with the missing document. Will they be able to find out the persons responsible, and more importantly, is it within their powers to bring those individuals to justice?
On the personal side, Lynley is becoming disgruntled with Helen’s utter lack of interest in resuming contact with him, while Havers’ sudden interest in dating men is bewildering and perhaps upsetting him.
Tropes
- Autopsy Snack Time: Lafferty is perfectly happy to munch chocolate-coated biscuits while describing how his subject’s arteries were coated black with heavy internal bleeding. Lynley and Havers are fascinated.
- Bad Date: Played for Laughs, as Havers tries to keep control of her facial expression while watching her date slurp bottle after bottle of beer and carry on a monologue about his DJ-ing interests, before asking if she would like to go to his flat. She really wouldn't. Poor girl.
- Corrupt Politician: Simon Featherstonehaugh.
- Downer Ending: Leaving aside the Karma Houdini, we end this episode with Lynley alone with a bottle, disillusioned about the reach of justice, feeling indifferent towards Helen, bitter about Havers’ dates, and deciding not to start a relationship with Christine Miller. Ouch.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Whether he knows it or not, Lynley's reaction to Havers' sudden social life reads exactly like this.
- Hand Wave: Lynley and Havers arrest a suspect, and the two police officers who meet them outside just happen to be the Man Behind the Man’s Evil Minions? If it isn’t a Contrived Coincidence, then the episode doesn’t do a very good job of explaining how Lynley and Havers were so successfully duped by the fake cops.
- Karma Houdini: The real villains cannot be connected with the crime, and retain their front of respectability, much to Lynley’s disgust.
- Leave No Witnesses: The killer is shot dead by fake policemen before he divulges any secrets about the men who had put him under pressure to retrieve the document.
- Limited Social Circle: Averted, for once. Lynley begins to display considerable interest in Ms. Christine Miller, while Havers takes up the services of a dating service agency, although without much success.
- OOC: For once, Lynley appears ill at ease in high society and is unable to deliver the snarky comebacks for which he is known.
- Possibly a symptom of the Heroic BSoD he has been going through pretty much the whole season, which comes to a climax in the next episode.
- Recurring Character: This episode introduces M.E. Stuart Lafferty, who will appear in pretty much every remaining episode of the programme.
- Red Herring: Invoked by the killer. The way the two victims’ hands were tied up was intended to mislead the investigators about the killer’s background.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: The entire investigation seems a bit pointless: there is nothing Lynley can do with the information he knows.
- They're Called "Personal Issues" for a Reason: Lynley isn’t very pleased when Pippa Featherstonehaugh brings up the topic of his separation with Helen.
- Villain with Good Publicity: One more reason for the Downer Ending.
