Originally published: London: Bantam, 2000.

January 1721. London is reeling from the effects of the greatest financial scandal of the age - the collapse of the South Sea Bubble. William Spandrel, a penniless mapmaker, is offered a discharge of his debts if he will deliver a package to Amsterdam for the Director of the South Sea Company. When the package is delivered Spandrel discovers the recipient has been murdered and he soon realises he has been a pawn in several people's games. British Government agents, hot on his trail, believe the package contains secrets that could spark a revolution in England. Spandrel's only hope is to deliver the package into the right hands, but who's hands? And what does the package really contain?