'Young English woman, Elizabeth Peters has a ski-sloped nose, a hereditary defect from her father's side. But what is distinguishable about her is her intelligence. She'd rather spend her time inventing gadgets, redesigning engineering contraptions and doing word puzzles than becoming a respectable housewife as her mother wishes. Elizabeth's world is turned upside down one evening when she arrives home to find the house has been ransacked and her mother missing from her basement workshop - presumably kidnapped by German spies. After sifting through the wreckage, she discovers a dangerous family secret in a peculiar-looking cryptic diary, a strange talking ring and a French man - Albert Bourdillon. Lizzie must leave London and travel to France while learning the shocking truth about the owner of the diary and about a chemical which could destroy the world, if it should fall into the wrong hands. A chemical threat so lethal it could destroy herself, the people she loves and the world.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
