London, 1945. The capital is the backdrop for many struggling with demonsunleashed by the recent World War. Maisie Dobbs is drawn into the story of agroup of squatters, including an ill demobbed soldier, who have set up camp inthe Belgravia mansion of her former in-laws Lord and Lady Julian Compton. Herattempt to help brings to light a decades-old mystery that concerns her firsthusband, James Compton, who was killed while flying an experimental fighteraircraft. The deeply personal inquiry leads her to the second man, who isfighting the darkness of his ow n conscience following a secret mission.It is an investigation that will challenge so much of what Maisie understandsabout her life and forces her to look at the past and the many mirrors thatcould have been reflecting something other than she had come to believe wastruth.