A brilliant scientist reappears at the house of his wife. Has he escaped from notorious Manchurian prison camp Ni-San? And why have so many missing people stayed at the Chessman Hotel? Steed and Emma book in.

Invited for the weekend to the home of a fellow Bridge Expert, Emma finds herself trapped in a house designed to send her mad. Her tormentor is Max Prendergast, a man she befriended and then betrayed in Berlin some time before. Then Steed came to the rescue but now he's at home nursing a sprained ankle.