Barnaby attends the funeral of the owner of the Easterly Grange Hotel and hears that the hotel manager has gone missing. The will is read, and it seems the hotel has been divided between the missing manager and his beautiful wife, the hotel's chef and its accountant.A dog finds the hotel manager's severed hand, and the others named in the will receive threatening notes. Then accidents start to happen to them all, including mushroom-poisoning, an apparently accidental shooting, a falling drinks cabinet and a sabotaged vehicle. Barnaby next learns that the missing hotel manager had in his possession a more recent will, which is also now missing....

Seks måneder efter fabriksejeren Alan Kings død gifter hans enke sig med hans bror. Alans søn er rasende. Det samme er fabrikkens ansatte, for fabrikken er blevet lukket, og de ansatte føler, at deres pensionspenge er forsvundet ned i ejernes lommer. Da fabrikkens regnskabsfører findes myrdet, er der således ikke mangel på mistænkte. Der venter Barnaby en vanskelig sag, men selveste William Shakespeare sætter ham på sporet af gådens løsning.