Victoria Jones meets a young man in London. They exchange only a few words, but they both feel the instant attraction for each other. Unfortunately they will never see each other again, because the young man, Edward, is leaving for Baghdad the next day. But Victoria doesn't give up so easily. She immediately starts to work finding a way to get to Baghdad, and when Victoria sets her mind to accomplish something, mountains had better get out of the way!

Once in Baghdad, Victoria is penniless and has no idea how to find Edward—she doesn't even know his last name! But before she can worry too much, she's swept up in international intrigue. A bleeding man stumbles into her hotel room and dies, muttering just a few words with his last breath: "Lucifer ... Bashrah ... Lefarge ...." Another man staying at the hotel is apparently a British government agent (Mr. Dakin), and he helps Victoria dispose of the body. He tells Victoria that the hotel was the meeting place for an undercover agent with vital information to deliver to the well-known adventurer, Sir Rupert Lee Croft. The undercover agent was knifed before he could deliver his message.

Can Victoria discover the meaning to the dead man's mysterious last words? Can she discover what's fishy about the firm Edward works for? And who is Anna Scheele? You can count on Victoria to find out!

Spoilers ahead! Scroll down for full spoilers of this book.

A well-organized group of malcontents is preparing to take over the world. They have a secret compound in a more secluded area of the world, and a financial set-up that allows them to run it. Only three people can provide information about this group: Carmichael, an undercover agent; Sir Rupert Lee Croft; and Anna Scheele, who has traced out some of the financial arrangements of the group. These people are meant to meet with a summit of world superpowers—the place chosen for the meeting is Baghdad.

As these figures make their way to Baghdad, the evil group is trying to prevent them from making it. They intercept Sir Rupert Lee Croft and substitute a look-alike (who knifes Carmichael when he keeps the rendezvous); they plan to do the same for Anna Scheele. And—Victoria is intended to be the phony Anna Scheele!

The story begins when Edward sees Victoria and realizes that her facial features are very similar to Anna Scheele's. He plays the role of love-struck boy, and then arranges for a couple traveling to Baghdad to apply for an assistant to the agency Victoria uses. Naturally Victoria jumps at the chance to have her expenses to Baghdad paid. But when Victoria falls in with the British agent before she finds Edward, Edward changes his tactics. He keeps Victoria in the dark as to his plans for her and instead "helps" her unravel the mystery she's caught up in.

Things really speed up when Victoria is kidnapped and held captive. She manages to escape and is rescued by a member of an archaeology team. She lays low with them for a while, and in the meantime, discovers that her kidnappers have dyed her black her an ash blonde! While staying at the dig, Victoria realizes that the dying man had said "Defarge" not "Lefarge." As in, the character from Tale of Two Cities who coded people's names into her knitting—and Carmichael had been wearing an old hand-knitted scarf when he died, that Victoria still had in her luggage!

When Victoria returns to Baghdad, she tells Mr. Dakin about her discovery, and the scarf she still has in her luggage. But before she can retrieve her luggage, Edward appears on the scene and invites Victoria to come with him so they can be alone together for a while. Through a slip of the tongue, Victoria realizes that Edward knows too much about everything that's been happening. It's obvious that she's on to him, but rather than try to run or bluff her way out, Victoria decides to be adoring and admiring! She agrees to play the role of Anna Scheele, and she's whisked off to a nearby town, where the gang hope to effect the substitution.

The substitution apparently goes off, but when Victoria arrives in Baghdad in the guise of Anna Scheele, she realizes that she's served her purpose, and will now be gotten rid of. Just in the nick of time, Mr. Dakin's people swoop in, rescue her, and apprehend the gang. Victoria then learns that the woman the gang nabbed was not Anna Scheele at all, but a decoy. Anna has arrived in Baghdad in a different persona. She provides her evidence, the knitted scarf is deciphered, and Victoria realizes that her love for Edward was puppy love; she really loves the young man who rescued her after she escaped from being kidnapped and helped her hide out at the archaeological dig.

Whoof! This book was very hard to explain! I left out a lot of the details and pieces of the plot, just to make it manageable. But what a great story! I never did understand what exactly this evil gang was up to, but in a way that made it more believable. You just stumble through like Victoria, barely understanding what's happening, except that it's desperate and important.

I really liked the character of Victoria (you could probably tell). She's right at the top with Bundle and Tuppence! Christie writes her character in such a way that the whole story is believable, just because it's Victoria. Would an average person have been able to get to Baghdad and blow apart the evil gang? Probably not. But Victoria's not average.

I think I read someone else's review of this book, that commented on the wonderful backdrop of Baghdad and the Middle East. That is definitely one of the nice things about the book; the romance and beauty of the Middle East is present throughout.

I definitely like the adventure books from Christie. Was this novel a mystery? Probably not by strictest standards. But the fact that Edward is actually the leader of the evil gang is a surprise, and the method Anna Scheele uses to get into Baghdad is surprising and amusing. More than a mystery, this novel is a really good story!