Yet again Thomas Elphinstone Hambledon hares after a Foreign Office problem -- and finds a tie-in of stolen (and sold) confidential information, blackmail and kidnaping when he crosses to France in pursuit of an international gang. Paris, Chartres, Dijon and the vineyards of Beaune are part of the tour that brings Hambledon closer to the identity of the leader of the gang -- and its elimination. Smooth and mannered.