With her friend Jude away for an indefinite time and her dog with an injured foot, divorcee Carole Seddon forgoes her usual walk on the Feathering beach. Instead, she drives to the West Sussex town of Weldisham to walk on the Downs for her morning constitution. Just as she's about to head back to the car, it starts pouring and she takes refuge in an abandoned barn.

While waiting for the rain to abate, Carole, sitting on some wooden planks, slips, jarring her seat into revealing fertilizer bags filled with human bones. She calls the police who realize they have a criminal case on their hands. Much to Carole's surprise she wants to find the identity of the remains and how they got in the barn. When Jude returns, she's as eager as Carole is to solve the case. The two friends, in their own way, begin to investigate.

Carole and Jude are as different as two people can be yet their friendship is so real and dynamic it is electrifying. Their thought processes are very different yet they always end up agreeing with one another on a point of contention. The atmosphere of an English village gives DEATH ON THE DOWNS a delightful ambiance that the armchair traveler will enjoy.