First in a period drama series set in Kenya during the 1930s. Ex-Scotland Yard detective Albert Tyburn arrives in Nairobi to set up a criminal investigation unit, after having shot a child murderer who avoided prosecution by claiming diplomatic immunity. He arouses the dislike of Police Commissioner Burkitt and almost immediately is plunged into investigating the disappearance and death of Lady Daphne Ellesmere. Ostensibly she died after being mauled by a lion, but Tyburn unearths anomalies in that theory and his investigations turn up adulteries, changed wills, abortion and drug trafficking connected with her. He is aided by Lady Daphne's sister Emma, an independent young woman who owns and runs an aeroplane. He finally discovers the series of events that led to Lady Daphne's death and traces the real murderer.