style="overflow: hidden; color: #000000; background-color: #ffffff; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; border: medium none;">In the bucolic fictional village of Middlebury, Buckinghamshire, four rich couples live in elegant seclusion, each family atop its own hill. “The Eight”, as they style themselves, host dinner parties, take mini-breaks together and the husbands all ride the 6.38 Virgin Pendolino to London each morning, travelling first class, naturally. But this Eden of pony club gymkhanas and weekly spa visits is shattered in the opening pages when the members of one of the families are murdered in their sleep.