Unsettling words from his dying father set twelve-year-old William Jones on a desperate search through darkest London for John Diamond, the son of a man his father apparently once cheated badly. In the course of his search, he encounters an odd assortment of characters, some of whom seem determined to kill him.

Originally published in the United States as Footsteps, John Diamond combines a cast of remarkable eccentrics with superb sensory descriptions. This title was a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book.