London, England, 1959
 
As the tensions of the cold war ratchet up, a plan is hatched to try and weaponise telepathic thought. The benefits of knowing what your friends and foes are intending, and the ability to influence their actions are too tempting a prize to ignore.
 
Drawn into this tangled web, is Velma Scott, a private investigator, one of the best in the city of London. When she takes on a new client, a reporter called Douglas Salter, she gets into far more than she bargained for.
 
As she investigates a suspected attempt on her client’s life, she learns that powerful forces are conspiring to protect a dark and sinister secret. People with unusual abilities are being sorted out. And one in particular, a spectre from her client's past, with links to the occult, could threaten the very fate of the world.
 
Velma is determined to help her client find out who is trying to kill him and why. Her efforts lead to her becoming embroiled in a case, which could threaten the world’s delicate balance of power, in a time when it needs it the most.