First published in 1965, this is the final installment of the Duke De Richleau series…

The years have moved on, and De Richleau has relocated from his London pad to an apartment in the Mediterranean. His great friends visit on occasion, and on this one both Rex's son and Richard Eaton's daughter (first seen as a little girl in The Devil Rides Out), paving the way for a young romance to blossom amongst the action.

But interwoven with the the story of love is a strange inheritance that draws the whole party to Sri Lanka, where they are destined to face theft, murder, arson and blackmail. De Richleau, at the eleventh hour, is forced to take a last desperate gamble, alone, to save his friends.