Paul Barclay's story continues. Six years from the end of Le Morte d'Mortimer, Jack Hammond persuades Paul to return to London where he meets up with Joseph and Aaron, the mysterious agent Esther Fanning and two Hollywood movie makers. Under Fanning's management Literary, Theatrical and Movie successes have made them all incredibly rich. On a visit to Cambridge Joseph begins to unveil parts of his life hitherto unknown to Paul. The reappearance of McArthur, sparks off further mystery. Paul moves on to Amsterdam to meet up with Jack Hammond and finds himself managed and manipulated by the Rosenblum organisation. From Hammond he learns the secrets of Mortimer's prized icon of the Blue Madonna. They also encounter the secretive International Art market. Their journey, driven by the mystery of all the Mortimer connections, takes them from Amsterdam to the Blair Edgar has woven a net of intrigue and changing interpersonal relations in which his characters are all trapped as the story unfolds.