When a man is found murdered on the doorstep of a respectable house in Bedford Square, Victorian England's finest and most controversial policeman, Thomas Pitt, is called immediately to the scene. The only clue to the victim's identity is a silver snuff box found on the body, curiously at odds with the man's dishevelled appearance. Pitt soon discovers that the box, and the house where the body was found, belong to General Balantyne, a man Pitt knows to be a pillar of the community. He is dismayed to learn that Balantyne can barely recall the evening, let alone account for his movements.