Set in 1938 in London and Vienna, a tense espionage thriller meets literary mystery, told against a backdrop of uncertainty and fear as World War Two looms.

In pre-war Britain, people are jumpy and the atmosphere in London is febrile. Stella Fry, who''s been working in Vienna for a Jewish family, returns home with no job and a broken heart. She answers an advertisement from a famous mystery writer, Hubert Newman, who needs a manuscript typed. She takes on the job and is shocked the next day to learn of the writer''s sudden, unexplained death. She is even more shocked when, twenty-four hours later, she receives Newman''s manuscript and reads the Dedication: To Stella, spotter of mistakes.

Enter Harry Fox, formerly of Special Branch, suspended for some undisclosed misdemeanor, yet so brilliant at surveillance that the old team calls on his services from time to time. He has his own reasons for being interested in Hubert Newman. He approaches Stella to tell her he believes the writer''s death was no accident. What''s more, since she was the last person to see him, she could be a target herself.