Berebury golf course, in the fictional county of Calleshire, is an unlikely setting for a murder. Set in a pleasant landscape and boasting a splendid view of the market town of Berebury, the golf course is more suited to fun and frolics than murder and mayhem. So when flirtatious golfing beginner Helen Ewell goes in search of her wayward golf ball in the dreaded 'Hells Bells' bunker she is not prepared for the horrible surprise that lies buried beneath the soft sand.

The discovery of a body in the deepest bunker on the course draws Detective Inspector Sloan and Detective Constable Crosby into an intriguing new case that is more challenging than scoring a hole in one. The team soon discover that the body belonged to a healthy young man who had suffered a heavy blow to the head with a sharp instrument a few days prior to his uncovering. What prove more elusive, however, are the identities of both the murderer and the victim, and the motive for the killing. Life is made more difficult when the detectives become caught up in an issue that has divided the members of the Committee of the Golf Club. Yet it is here that the detectives, with the help of their superior officer, Superintendent Leeyes, begin to find some answers.