William Warner, wine merchant and bon viveur, is the

sort of man who doesn t get shot at--in the normal

course of events, that is. With a weU-established business

in London, a country house in France, a tres chic French

wife and a delightful mistress, William has every reason

to expect life to be comfortable, if a little dull at times.

So when a sniper takes a potshot at him on a lonely

Dartmoor track, William decides to throw caution and

common sense to the wind and find out why.

In addition to his considerable charm and humor, our

hero is in possession of two slender clues to the mys-

tery-his would-be assassin had muttered something

about "the man from the Ministry" and in his getaway had

abandoned a flashlight with a Ministry of Defense serial

number stamped on it. After enlisting the help of a some-

what reluctant old school friend with connections in high

places, Warner embarks on an investigation that will take

him from the hallowed portals of the Athenaeum to the

murky waters of the British Channel, from the cozy seclu-

sion of his London flat to the Porton Down defense

establishment, and from civilized middle age to a life of

high adventure, desperate gambles, and beautiful women.