A fateful call from her Father sees Phryne travelling home to England where painful revelations must be discovered. Jack, when faced with a long separation from her must make his own difficult choices.

"I wouldn't have thought it like you Collins to take an interest in Erotica of the Far East." Hugh has some explaining to do as to how a certain book managed to get into his possession and Jack faces the consequences of returning the said book to a rather seductive lady detective.

"Oh, Miss Fisher," she positively frozen when she heard her name, afraid that he'd woken to find her watching him sleeping, even more afraid that he hadn't. And then, in a tone of voice she had never heard Inspector Detector Jack Robinson use in all the time she had known him, a hungry growl, a husky, desperate demand, he said, "call me Inspector."

What is a crucible? To a scientist, it is a mere piece of experimental apparatus. An item into which perhaps unknown substances are placed, to be heated in a furnace that drives out all impurities until there is nothing left. Nothing but that which can stand the test of the fire.