When a London War Office courier is murdered for the confidential dispatch he carried for a known as the Pink Carnation, Henrietta Uppington and Miles Dorrington work with the War Office to prevent the Pink Carnation's assassination.

As Lady Frederick Staines, Penelope Deveraux plunges into the treacherous waters of the court of the Nizam of Hyderabad and with the assistance of Captain Alex Reid draws out the deadly plans of the spy known as the Marigold.

Colonel William Reid has returned home from India to retire near his children, who are safely stowed at an academy in Bath. Upon his return to the Isles, however, he finds that one of his daughters has vanished, along with one of her classmates-- Gwendolyn Meadows' little sister. Thrown together by circumstance, Gwen and William must cooperate to track down the young ladies before others with nefarious intent get their hands on them. But Gwen's partnership...