DCI Barnaby and DS Jones investigate the murder of Felicity Law who had recently sold at auction a painting she found in her attic. The previously unknown work, 'Midsomer Meadow' by Henry Hobson who lived in Midsomer, went for an unbelievable £400,000 and was purchased by well-known collector George Arlington. Joyce Barnaby had worked to raise money for the local Hobson Society which wanted to purchase it but came nowhere near having the necessary amount, which didn't stop its chairperson, Patricia Blackshaw from overbidding in a desperate attempt to win the prize. After the sale, Felicity had announced that she was giving most of the money to Matilda Sims, who runs a local art school. Soon after Felicty's murder, another Hobson painting is stolen from the home of Alan Best, who was also outbid at the auction. The presence of an insurance investigator leads Barnaby to believe that art forgery is at the root of it all. Several will die however before the perpetrator is arrested.
—garykmcd