John Mannering (aka ‘The Baron’) is a retired jewel thief and cracksman who now runs a respectable antique business, Quinns, in London’s Mayfair. He buys and sells objet d’art and also provides safe-keeping for many precious items – gold, silver and especially jewellery. A new generation of criminals see him as an obvious target – can they outsmart the man who was a legend amongst their fraternity in his time? They find, however, that robbing their ‘man’ isn’t quite as easy as they might have hoped, although ‘The Baron’ does come perilously close to disaster in a tale that has an unexpected twist. Unless he acts, at least two people will be condemned to a life of unhappiness.