It is 1916, two years after he volunteered for the mud and the mayhem of the Western Front, and the last thing Rhys Evans expects is to get his old job back. Yet British officers are being killed behind the lines and General Haig chooses Rhys, a former policeman, to investigate for foul play. What Rhys doesn't know is that G nther Mayer, a former policeman recuperating from a gas attack in his native Hamburg, has been called back to the colours by General Falkenhayn for much the same reason. Neither of them suspect that they, in turn, have become targets in a political intrigue that began the day Lord Kitchener and General von Moltke met, in secret, in neutral Switzerland. They too are now dead, leaving a British and a German detective to join forces if they are to find the culprit and stay alive themselves.