Sir Henry Maxted is in Paris to negotiate the Treaty of Versailles. After he falls to his death from a building, his son James is drawn into a world of espionage and intrigue.

Former Royal Flying Corps pilot and British Intelligence agent James Maxted is the hero of this spy story, set in the years after the First World War. Investigating the disappearance of his diplomat father, he is drawn into a German–Japanese espionage plot.

This mystery thriller begins in Cornwall, where a retired archaeologist is made an overgenerous offer for the rundown family farm. His five children cannot understand why he refuses to sell it, until a terrible secret is revealed.