Jim Henderson is one of six guests summoned by the mysterious Edwin Carson, a collector of precious stones, to a weekend party at his country house, Thrackley. The house is gloomy and forbidding but the party is warm and hospitable. The other guests are wealthy people; Jim cannot imagine why he belongs in such company. After a weekend of adventure - with attempted robbery and a vanishing guest - secrets come to light and Jim unravels a mystery from his past. A British Library Crime Classic