Today is a day Mark Miles will never forget. And it's only just beginning...The next Houdini and one of Mark's few remaining PR clients, Reg Turpin, is about to attempt a great feat of escapology, and then Dr. Herman Temple, the self-appointed guru, will arrive to conduct a seminar on the dynamics of leadership at the Grand Atlantic Hotel. It's going to be his big day and nothing's going to spoil it. Well, nothing apart from the seedy private investigator who's unpacking his thermal underwear, pyjamas and a .32 Smith & Wesson at a local bed and breakfast; Avril, the voluptuous, insatiable wife of the drunken hotel owner; a man called Bela; and Alice, Temple's beautiful, if terrifying ambitious, assistant.