On the lonian island of Hyos, where James Pibble has been sent to protect millionaire Thanassi Thanatos, it is difficult to know what is true. Is there really a lizard that will poison you if it drowns in your milk? Is the man from the Home Office there to kill? Or to save? Or just to play cricket with the local boys under local rules? Why does the grubby English girl live in a hut in a vineyard? She has a mysterious past, true. But then so has everyone else, and most of them have mysterious presents as well . . .