When the Oceanic sets sail from England's Port of Southampton, its ultimate destination is New York. But it must make one very important stop first: at Cherbourg, in France, to pick up internationally renowned financier and art collector J. P. Morgan, fresh from a continental buying spree sure to have turned up numerous priceless objets d'art. Needless to say, George Porter Dillman and Genevieve Masefield, ship's detectives aboard the Oceanic, are...

Godfrey Bowyer, the best but least likeable bow maker in Worcester, dies of poisoning, though his wife Blanche survives. The number of people who could have administered the poison should mean a very short investigation for Bradecote and Catchpoll, but perhaps someone was pulling the strings, and that widens the net considerably. Could it be the cast-out younger brother or perhaps Orderic the Bailiff, whose wife may have had to endure Godfrey's attentions?...

When Le Guide's director tells Monsieur Pamplemousse he needs a holiday, the ex-policeman turned gastronomer is convinced his boss is not just thinking about his health. And sure enough Pamplemousse finds himself under threat from the Russian Mafia.