A Roman gold coin is stolen during a magic trick. A man drops dead at a forest dinner. Everyone is watching the magician. He'd really rather they look elsewhere.

When the Incredible Fontaine, short, balding, born Barry Holt of Wolverhampton, technically brilliant and entirely without flair, arrives at Fernwood Hall, a fading commune-hotel deep in the Forest of Dean, to perform his Find the Lady routine, the trick of the evening is a freshly unearthed Roman aureus.

The next morning, the coin in the case is a fake, and the magician who made it disappear is the obvious suspect. Detective Inspector Marcus Webb of the Gloucestershire Constabulary is inclined to agree.