On the 23rd May, 1942, somewhere between ten and twelve at night, one man visited another at Button’s Hotel, Charing Cross. The visitor vanished into the war-time black-out. In the morning the man he visited was found dead - murdered. No clue exists as to the dead man's identity, leaving the police with no lead whatsoever.

On the 23rd May 1942 at midnight, Palliser, a government agent, left London on the train to the West Country and has not since been seen. The only clue to his disappearance was a communication chord pulled in an empty carriage…

Could the two things be connected? That is what Philip Tolefree must find out.

Originally published in 1944, this is a vintage British murder mystery written and set in wartorn England.