The Philobiblon Society is the second outing for Victorian detective Rino Rossi. Set in the northern mill town of Warley the story opens with a nasty case of poisoning. Rossi then finds himself investigating skulduggery on the railways, a very suspicious contract at a local engineering works and the activities of a gentleman's literary society. With the Boer war at its height the townspeople have sharply conflicting views about the conflict and there are those who view the German migr population with some suspicion.