First a knife in the dark -- thrusting deeply into the pillow where his head had rested a moment before. Now this morning -- discovering a decomposing corpse! Sir Nigel has returned to England after twelve years of the army life in India -- to visit Merriton Towers, which are to be his due to the strange disappearance of his uncle. He finds the Towers located in a most desolate region . . . made strange by the vision of dancing flames in the uninhabited marsh: the Frozen Flames. According to local legend, to investigate the flames means death! And death does rear its head . . . presenting Inspector Cleek of Scotland Yard with his strangest case ever.