May, 1937. Josephine Tey is in London to oversee a BBC radio production of her play, Queen of Scots. Meanwhile, the country is preparing to crown a new king. At the height of the Coronation celebrations, Detective Chief Inspector Archie Penrose is called in to investigate the murder of one of the BBC's best-known broadcasters. A second victim – his mistress, and the play's leading actress – suggests that the motive lies close to home, but Josephine suspects that the killings are linked to a decade-old scandal. With Archie's hands tied by politics, and his attention taken by another, seemingly unrelated death, it is left to Josephine to get to the truth – and to confront at first-hand the deadly consequences of love, deceit and betrayal.