A meeting with a Birmingham solicitor and a pile of unpaid bills see Marker leaving London for the smoke-filled skies of Birmingham - and even more trouble.
Who is blackmailing a highly-placed director of industry by threatening to release photographs of his indiscretions? Marker thinks he knows - but can he prove it?
Employed at the Hotel Railton as house detective during World Cup week, Marker has his work cut out keeping his eye on the strange behaviour of the hotel's guests.
Marker's problems are twofold. A local paper won't run his agency ad, and someone asks him to run to ground claims against a local tenant - on the cheap, of course.
Hired to undertake some difficult negotiations for Miss Barnes, Marker can't help but wonder what he's got himself into. Things turn nasty from the start.