Colonel Russell before the War had four sons; now he has four widowed daughters-in-law, each facing the aftermath in her own iconic way. Then an old friend of the Colonel’s dead sons resurfaces, reawakening tales of wartime espionage — enemy spies preying on the unwitting families at home — and is he really who he says? When the Colonel is thrown bodily through an upstairs window of his London Club, Eric Peterkin is once again called to investigate.

Eric Peterkin’s second mystery is about recognising that war impacts more than just the men who fought: there are wheels turning behind the scenes and strings being pulled from afar, and the people we leave behind might ultimately leave us behind. Set in the 1920s and the aftermath of the Great War, the story honours the period by reflecting the changing social mores, the gradual emancipation of women, the questioning of tradition, and the illusion of innocence — the truth behind the facade, against a backdrop of ongoing war trauma.