Lord Pastern and Baggot is a classic English eccentric, given to passionate, peculiar enthusiasms. His latest? Drumming in a jazz band. His wife is not amused, and even less so when her daughter falls hard for Carlos Rivera, the band's sleazy piano player. Aside from the young woman, nobody likes Rivera very much, so there's a wealth of suspects when he is shot in during a performance. Happily, Inspector Alleyn is in the audience.