A poet finds a body in a toyshop. But when he returns with the police the next morning, the body has disappeared–and so has the toyshop.
A pair of damaged shoes help Philip Trent to solve the mystery of a tycoon's death, but the solution reveals astounding facts even he had not suspected.
What caused the death of the terrified Miss Stoner's sister? Will she die the same way? And what was "the speckled band" to which the sister alluded in her dying breath? Sherlock Holmes is warned not to investigate.
Jeremy Veryan, heir to the estates of Veryan, leaves his guardian's house and goes in search of ' The High Adventure.' Mysteriously he is struck down by an unknown assailant. Jasper Shrig, a Bow Street Runner, dedicated to the pursuit of ' Windictiveness ' in all its manifestations, hears of this assault and comes to his assistance. Together they set out to track down not only the threat hanging over Jeremy but also the shadow that darkens his childhood-the mystery of his parents' death.