Shanghai in 1935 is a 20th-century Babylon, an expatriate playground where fortunes are made and lost, where East and West collide, and the stakes include life itself. Into this, Rowland Sinclair arrives from Sydney to represent his brother at international wool negotiations. Rowland is under strict instructions to commit to nothing...but a brutal murder makes that impossible. As suspicion falls on him, Rowland enters a desperate bid to find answers in a city as glitzy as it is dangerous, where tai-pans and tycoons rule, and politics and vice are entwined with commerce.

In fear for his life, American millionaire Daniel Cartwright changes his will, appointing his old friend Rowland Sinclair as his executor. Soon murder proves that fear was well founded. When Rowland receives word of Cartwright’s death, he sets out immediately for Boston, Massachusetts, to bury his friend and honour his last wishes. He is met with the outrage and anguish of Cartwright’s family, who have been spurned in favour of a man they claim does not exist.

When Rowland Sinclair is invited to race on the Maroubra Speedway, also known as the Killer Track, he agrees without reserve. But then a journalist covering the race is found dead; an English blueblood with Black shirt affiliations is killed on the racetrack, and Rowland himself becomes a target. Add to the mix a strange young reporter preoccupied with black magic, a mysterious vagabond, an up-and-coming actor called Flynn and a ruthless bookmaker... Rowland soon finds danger at every turn.

For nearly 14 years, Rowland has tried to forget, but now the past has returned. A newly discovered gun casts light on a family secret long kept...a murder the Sinclairs would prefer stayed unsolved. As old wounds tear open, the dogged loyalty of Rowland’s inappropriate companions is all that stands between him and the consequences of a brutal murder...one he simply failed to mention.

After narrowly escaping Nazi terror, Rowland Sinclair and his companions land in London, believing they are safe. But they are wrong. A bizarre murder plunges the hapless Australians into a queer world of British aristocracy, fascist Blackshirts, illicit love, scandal and spies. A world where gentlemen are not always what they are dressed up to be....