A University researcher attempts to revive his flagging career with an idea for finding new sporting champions whose skills transfer to other sports. He has identified Tim, (Hagrid the Destroyer), a chess player whose skills will turn him into a boxing champion.These plans are thwarted by mysterious deaths and ghostly appearances at the chess club. He faces a life or death battle with Lyman Groat a wealthy criminal mastermind intending to steal the idea in order to advance his own ambitions.As the season starts, the club is thrown into further turmoil when a preservation order is placed on The Memorial hall, their club house, to protect the bats which have been discovered in the roof area. Maintaining the bats would mean considerable disruption, as well as increased costs and loss of members. Direct action against the bats is threatened if a removal order is not secured. The redoubtable Dr Eleanor Maple, a local bat-expert, is determined to protect the bats against such actions.The battles to overcome the forces of Lyman Groat culminate in a life or death struggle as a two hundred year old injustice is played out.