A Cornish undertaker suddenly disappears. The missing man's body is found, washed up on the rocks, and a murder inquiry begins. A link is suspected between the undertaker's death and a strange local summer ritual, and the mystery ends with a figure strapped to a burning wheel plunging over the cliffs.

Wycliffe is brought in when an elderly bedridden woman is found dead, her body locked in a freezer, and a pregnant teenager, Hilda Clemo, from a bizarre family vanishes from her Cornish village. As fears for her safety grow, Wycliffe questions the family, whose feuding uncovers some dark secrets. Wycliffe has to unpick the tangled web of intrigue and greed.

A young female archaeology student is found naked in bed with gunshot wounds, and lies in a critical condition in hospital. As surgeons try to save her life, Wycliffe digs into the life of a famous novelist, who claims his life is at risk. Then a man is shot dead while walking his dog on the beach, and Wycliffe is under pressure to act quickly if he is to prevent another murder.

When the body of an amateur flautist, Tony Miller, shot by his own gun, is found on the secluded estate of Lord & Lady Bottrell, it is assumed that he killed himself. But Wycliffe senses there is more to the case than first meets the eye. As he unravels the dead man's last days, another mystery is revealed - the disappearance of a maid from the Bottrell household. Family feuds and illicit relationships are uncovered - and then another body is found.

When the Reverend Jordan arrives at the village church, he discovers the partially clothed body of Jessica Dobell, the church cleaner, spreadeagled below the cross. A satanic cult is thought to be behind the gruesome death, but Wycliffe believes responsibility lies elsewhere. There is an air of violent hatred in the village, not all of it directed towards the dead woman.

A prostitute tells Kersey that a customer has killed one of her colleagues.

When a farmer goes missing, leaving his sheep and house unattended, the local police call in Wycliffe. Discoveries of arson and bloodstains lead the team into a farming community struggling to survive.

When a fishing-boat owner, Harry Tremaine, is killed in the explosion of his fishing boat, suspicion falls on the man's son, who stands to inherit everything, but Wycliffe remains unconvinced. There's also a local developer who wants to build a marina on the quayside Tremaine owned; Tremaine's partner has been having an affair with his wife; and there is a mysterious recipient of £500 in cash from Tremaine on the first day of every month.

Alex Keir is distraught when his wife Alison goes missing, but Wycliffe is sceptical of his grief, until a ransome note is found. The case of apparent kidnapping then takes a dramatic turn when Mrs Keir is found dead and smelling of alcohol at the wheel of a crashed car.

When a fishing boat goes down taking one of the crew with it , Kersey and Lane discover a fishing community that is struggling to survive under the strain of legislation, as well as a new competitive edge to their working relationship.

The discovery of a baby's body leads the team to a bizarre pagan sect.

When a local pub landlord is bludgeoned to death, Wycliffe can find few people with a good word to say about him. A police informant points the finger at the victims' former wife and her new husband, but when DI Lane mishandles the situation, Wycliffe and Kersey are forced to stage a dramatic rescue.

In a police nursing home, Wycliffe ponders the future after the attempt on his life. Meanwhile, Kersey investigates a salmon poacher's suspicious death. Acting DCI Lane is tempted to move on and up.

Tragic events unfold after a wedding with a bizarre guest list: the bride and groom, who have only known each other for three weeks, advertised for guests to attend the ceremony in Penzance. Next day, one of the couple is found stabbed to death in their luxurious honeymoon hotel.

A petty criminal turns into a killer. A man is stabbed to death in a pub car park by a stranger. As Wycliffe investigates, the victim turns out not to be the upstanding businessman he seemed to be.

A climber dies after a cliff fall and a witness claims that his climbing partner is responsible.

Wycliffe and his team investigate the death of a man found blasted by a shotgun at a Cornish holiday home. They discover evidence of ill-feeling between the dead man and his brother-in-law.

When a man's virtually unidentifiable body is washed ashore, Wycliffe is baffled when two separate women claim it is that of their missing husbands.

Through her family and friends, Wycliffe tries to discover if it was suicide or murder when a schoolgirl is found dead in a science laboratory after a school disco.

Pursued by the press, under the spotlight of an internal investigation, and lacking support from his superiors, Wyclife's problems multiply when an old case resurfaces, and DCC Stevens seems out to prove Wycliffe is no longer up to the job.

When unexplained killings rock the Bodmin community, locals become convinced that the "beast" is back.

When a magistrate known to Wycliffe is found hanged, everything pints to suicide. But Wycliffe's instincts tell him otherwise.

A hunt for John Bonetti, an escaped prisoner from HMP Bodmin, takes a dramatic twist after the discovery of a body. Wycliffe and his team race against time to recapture him.

An abandoned lorry with five corpses at the ferry terminal and a man on the run bring Wycliffe's silver wedding anniversary celebration, which their children have laid on as a surprise, to an abrupt halt.

A couple facing eviction from their tied cottage are suspected of murder when the landowner is suddenly killed. Wycliffe must act quickly to identify the killer before locals take the law into their own hands.