The fourth Auguste Didier mystery.

When master chef Auguste Didier decides he needs a rest in his native Cannes he is convinced that there at least he will not encounter murder which seems recently to have stalked him as inexorably as Jack the Ripper his victims. No cold hand of violent death could possibly touch this delightful place of sun and warmth...

But back in London Inspector Egbert Rose of Scotland Yard is investigating a series of jewel burglaries. Only when he meets the sixth victim, ballerina Natalia Kallinkova, does he realise this is no ordinary case. For each missing jewel had been encased in an exquisiteFabergé egg, the gift of the Grand Duke Igor of Russia to his ex-mistresses. Worse, he discovers there is a seventh egg...and Inspector Rose sets off hot-foot to warn its owner - in Cannes.

There, the Gentlemen (the English, under the captaincy of the Prince of Wales) are about to engage the Players (the rest of the world) in a to-the-death cricket match. And where such passions are raised, murder is sure to follow...