Members of a Russian chess team who defected in 1989 after taking part in a tournament at Helsinki are targeted individually by a hitman several decades later, while living in London. Are these incidents the result of circumstances in the victims' earlier lives, or is there some completely different explanation, possibly based on blackmail attempts? Inspector George Mason of Scotland Yard, ably assisted by Sergeant Alison Aubrey, is assigned to lead the investigation. His enquiries take him to Amsterdam, Oslo and the resort town of Brighton on England's south coast, before he feels confident enough to make an arrest.
