It began with a breath of suspicion--erupted into a whirlwind of danger and intrigue. This is the fascinating and complex story of a perfectly ordinary English bookseller who knew a great deal about literature but very little indeed about scientists, politics, or spies. Motivated by his increasing obsession with a most unusual woman, he probes deeply into the mystery that surrounds her and, in finding the answers to the puzzle of her life, almost forfeits his own.

In a fast-moving tale that begins in London and moves to Madiera, E. X. Ferrars penetrates the diverse but converging worlds of a wide variety of characters. Only one thing is constant--somewhere there is a murderer at large.