Staunton has left his previous life behind and is now retired in a quiet village in Hampshire. But when his old colleague Delingworth comes calling and asks him to do one special job for him in exchange for a vital piece of information about the death of Alan’s wife, it is impossible to walk away.

Staunton travels to the Sultanate of Alopurah, near Indonesia, where he is to negotiate a multi-million dollar contract on behalf of his employer, a global security company.

It should be a piece of cake because Alan was at boarding school with the Sultan, but there are other parties vying for the deal and dead bodies start piling up in awkward places.