Ernest Balthazar Moncrieff is a senior inspector in the Serious Freud Office, an eccentric figure even by the standards of a service devoted to matters of nationally
important cultural crime.
Living in the genteel relative backwater of Pimlico suits him well - its fine plumbing, central location (North of the river!) and faded grandeur provide the
technology-suspicious, culture-loving Moncrieff with respite from the stresses and challenges of his job. (As well as a home for his eclectic and extensive wine collection!)
A job whose stresses crank up unexpectedly when the seemingly irrelevant theft of a lithograph precedes an avalanche of art thefts which brings his record under scrutiny
from the media and his politically ambitious boss!
His working relationship with his new assistant Benskin also comes under pressure, as well as his burgeoning liaison with the gorgeous Lucy. And then there's his bete noir,
the self-promoting and ruthless fellow inspector Jack Markitt who is determined to big-up his involvement in the high-profile cultural
visit of an oil-rich African president.
Can Moncrieff unravel the signals from his synesthesia and bring Hempel's Paradox to bear on the case of the fiendishly clever Art Borrower?