An amateur sleuth hunts for dirt on a murder and three missing maids in this classic English mystery by the author of the Department Z series. When not working at MI5, Patrick Dawlish frequently collaborates with the police to catch murderous criminals. Of course, many of the police, in turn, like to remind Dawlish that he isn't one of them and he should keep his feet out of the murky waters of crime. Dawlish is all too happy to oblige, but Superintendent Trivett of Scotland Yard needs his help . Housekeepers are disappearing in the isolated town of Terne. Three to be precise--all young women and all employed by the same man. Mr. Clive Dickerson is suspiciously aloof about the matter, especially after a woman wearing the clothes of one of the missing is found dead in a river.

To determine what is going on--and locate the remaining women--Dawlish must first find someone willing to go undercover and infiltrate Dickerson's mansion. But who could be so daring? Or so foolish?.