After this murder, everyone is lying to DI Peach; One weekend in November, two students at the University of East Lancashire are at a loose end. After having one drink too many, the idea of committing the Perfect Crime comes up in casual conversation. But the idea is aiready fully-formed in the mind of one of them, Paul Barnes. Claptrap Carter, the director of the university, is a pompous fool. Who better to be the victim of a crime that can never be unravelled? But as Paul and his friend Gary stage a break-in into Claptrap's mansion, they don't realize that it is Detective Inspector Percy Peach who will be questioning them the following day. And however clever the intellectuals of the university may consider themselves to be, they could never have anticipated a detective so clever with words, so good at reading minds - and, for that matter, so well read.