Paul Laking is dead and the police suspect suicide. Yet Sir John Laking, a highly respected local landowner and magistrate, is missing along with his daughter, and the telephone wires have been cut. And what is this to do with the 'Mensak Incident' in which a village has been subjected to bombardment, and the Toff's (The 'Honourable Richard Rollison') fascination with weapons of all kinds, especially from the East? There are hidden crimes, including murder, to be uncovered and it would seem that only the Toff has any chance of getting at the truth, or has he?