Novelist Kate Ivory is used to receiving letters from her readers, but when she receives a package containing a gold knot-ring, with no explanatory letter, she is more than a little bemused A phone call from her publicist, however, soon banishes worries from Kate's mind, as she prepares to embark on a countrywide bookshop tour to promote her new novel Joining Kate on the tour is Devlin Hayle, author of a series of romantic bodice-rippers But he seems to have a talent for producing mayhem wherever he goes and it is clear that he has a hidden agenda for thr tour And Kate herself seems to be developing a habit of attracting the wrong sort of people