£19,000

An American visitor's toothache brings unexpected danger to two struggling brothers in London's Finsbury district. Charles Lennox, a dentist, calls in his surgeon brother Arthur to administer an anaesthetic, but the patient dies during treatment. Fearful of the effect on their livelihoods, the brothers begin discussing how to conceal what has happened. Burford Delannoy opens his mystery with professional anxiety turning into a desperate moral choice.

A later passage follows Gerald into the office of the lawyer Loide, where routine clerical work offers access to private papers. Gerald examines correspondence concerning Depew and discovers a request to stop the numbers of banknotes worth nineteen thousand pounds. Financial pressure, suspicious records, and concealed actions give the investigation its momentum. Readers who enjoy mysteries built around money and documentary clues can follow how an ordinary workplace becomes a source of unsettling discoveries.