The partners of the firm of 'Crabbe and Crabbe: Private Investigators' have unusual qualifications for detectives. Both in their twenties, Melpomene is a social anthropologist, and Alexander is a solicitor, a combination that brings fresh approaches to a sometimes jaded profession, while benefitting from effective collaboration with police forces in various parts of England, and occasionally even France. This, their latest case, starts out with an apparently minor incident of industrial sabotage, but inexorably extends to intimidation, assault, kidnapping and several types of murder, all instigated by a spiteful unscrupulous mastermind working at a high level in the textiles industry. Of course, Mel and Alex ultimately prevail, bring the guilty to justice, tie up almost all the loose ends, and move on to their next case.