The flat in the Heath Mansions apartment building in Hampstead came with all the amenities and fully furnished, including, unfortunately, a headless corpse. Which, of course, is where Chief Inspector Pointer came into the picture. However, when certain evidence points to the deceased being an infamous Basque anarchist, the inspector finds himself in a conflict of jurisdiction with an investigator from the Foreign Office. But is the body that of the Basque, or someone else? If, as the inspector suspects, it is not, then who's is it? And why was the body dismembered in such a gruesome manner, not to mention why was he killed and by whom? With all these questions, Pointer finds himself dealing with "a very complex case" as he tries to find the solution to . . . The Clifford Affair