A simple plot that steadily grows more complex. The book opens with supposed Duke Claude Lafont discussing the whereabouts of his lawyer, who he sent to Australia to search for the hitherto unkwn heir to his Uncle's Dukedom. Jake Darrendall a cat loving sheepherder from the bush of Australia. Hornung gets all the mileage he can out of such a simple premise with several twists. Every character has an arc even the character who talks about exclusively golf.