Girls Together magazine agony-aunt 'Mrs Friendly-wise', aka Katinka Jones, finds herself at a loose end in Swansea, and decides to pay a surprise visit to one of the magazine's regular correspondents, 'Amista'. But reaching the address a strange house perched atop a mountain which matches all of the descriptions in the letters nobody has even heard of 'Amista'. As Katinka begins to fall for the dashing master of the house, Carleon, more weird mysteries emerge and the plucky Detective Inspector Chucky joins the search for the truth in this self-consciously lurid mystery-melodrama; a rollicking cavalcade of Brand's signature twists and turns.

Christianna Brand was the pen name of Mary Christianna Milne (19071988), a crime writer who was born in British Malaya. She is best known for her mystery novels and short stories featuring Inspector Cockrill along with the Nurse Matilda books for children, which were adapted for screen as Nanny McPhee.