Surely nobody poisons university students, let alone the good guys like Mark Gower? Yet Mark is dead and the puzzle for DI Jimmy Molash is as much why as who.

Middleham is a typical English town and some of the students and staff at the university have been trying to change the world. Now that Mark's world is ended, the drivers behind social change come into sharp focus as Molash unpicks the actions of Mark's colleagues.

Is Mark's death a by-product of the social and political turmoil of the summer of 2019 or is the motive personal?

Molash is the first detective to combine police procedure with betting theories to catch murderers – but can he land the gamble by finding out the truth before Mark's killer strikes again?