The lovely little village of Fiametta lies beside a placid Italian lake high up in the mountains. To Fanny Durand it presented a romantic picture when she arrived from England to stay at the Pension run by the Convent...but Fanny was not travelling in search of romance. Ostensibly on holiday she was, in fact secretly bent on discovering what lay behind the disappearance of her diplomat brother, believed to have turned traitor. On the plane which had carried her to Fiametta she had sat next to a tall handsome man who's finely drawn face had shown the ravages of considerable strain. Jack Morell had also been bound for the little Italian resort and in Flametta he had joined his sister and her husband Sir Humphrey Reede. But in so small a place he and Fanny were bound to meet - though not before she had delighted and impressed the courteous young Salvatore Montesa...