The Honourable Richard Rollison, known to the underworld and the public at large as The Toff, is able by his special methods to solve many mysteries that baffle the police. This one begins in a fashionable Mayfair nightclub, where he is talking to a very pretty girl...

In an old-fashioned London fog, in the alleyways by the Docks, killing a man with a knife is not difficult. But The Toff and his astute manservant Jolly have a lot of contacts in that area. Slowly but surely, retribution follows, a retribution that touches Irma Cardew and her unpleasant friend Leo Kohn.

"The anticipated violence begins" in the words of Jolly when there are several attempts on The Toff's life. From then on, never a dull moment.