Seymour of Special Branch

Barcelona in 1912 is a city still recovering from the dramatic incidents of the so-called 'Tragic Week' when Catalan conscripts bound for the unpopular war in Spanish Morocco had rebelled at the city's dockside against the royalist forces. In the fighting many were killed and afterwards even more were thrown into prison. Including an Englishman, who was later found dead in his cell.

Naples, 1913. Sun-baked, blue-skied, and with its amazing bay it is one of the most beautiful spots in Italy. But it’s also one of the most corrupt. A new arrival here is a junior British official, Scampion, who has already been banished from Florence. Scampion, however, brings with him a new craze that is sweeping Italy: bicycling. But one day as he walks home after a bicycle race, he is stabbed to death. That happens all the time in Naples, but remarkably his wallet was not taken.

Malta, 1913, and hot air balloons hover over the Grand Harbour. But one of them falls from the sky, the balloonist dying later from his injuries. He is not the only one to die unexpectedly at the Naval Hopspital, however, as a letter to the Times points out. Special Investigator Seymour of the Foreign Office is sent out from London to uncover the truth. Malta is still a British protectorate; indeed, with its red post boxes, English beer, and English language, it seems like an exotic "Little Britain". But as the rumblings of war reach the small island, many of the old Maltese families are becoming divided in their loyalties.