Four brilliant men have died mysteriously-and the only clue is the carved tail of a golden scorpion left beside their bodies. The man behind the horror calls himself "The Scorpion," and he is clearly a man of superior cunning. When the finest detectives of France and England-Gaston Max and Inspector Dunbar-join forces to stop the Scorpion before he can add a fifth victim to his list, the twisting trail takes them from the haunts of London's underworld to the seamy opium dens of Chinatown-and from there into the "Lair of the Scorpion."