Inspector Arnold Box is called to investigate when two dead bodies are found in a London house.  He is surprised to see that one of them is dissolute young Maurice Claygate, scion of the Claygates of Dorset House, a family used to entertaining diplomats and the nobility at their many social events.  Just shortly before, he was at Maurice’s 26th birthday party himself, secretly collecting a sealed envelope from a suspicious Frenchman in return for a cheque.  Box finds himself once again in the middle of a top-secret operation for Colonel Kershaw.

Mr Russell continues to produce his delightful Inspector Box series, successfully blending espionage with murder in a historical setting to great effect. This is another highly readable entry in the series containing a pacy story replete with cloak-and-dagger missions, bodies and spies.  It will appeal I should think to a wide range of readers of both sexes, inventive enough to be a bit different to the run of Victorian crime novels as well as appealing to those who enjoy reading about intelligence work. Squeezed within a remarkably short number of pages you can find some light romance, a hysterical girl confronting a "demon" during a firework display, a crumbling French chateau filled with secrets and a denouement at Versailles.  I hope this series runs and runs.