Britain has entered into a terrifying war with Ruritania, whose metal planes darken the skies, and whose monstrous war engines cast looming shadows from across the channel. Doctor Robert Watcham returns to Dilke Street where lives his old friend, and England's greatest amateur detective, Sax Raker. Raker has embarked on the strangest investigation of his career - the case of the man who wasn't there. Is the mysterious killer evidence for Raker's long-held belief in a secret criminal mastermind? Or do all the signs point to something much, much worse? This may be the last case for Raker: a spinning tale of mystery, an account of thwarted love, a fleeting glimpse into the aetheric mechanics of the world itself!