When Francis Richmond, minor academic and society snob dies, his one great wish, to leave his mark on the world, dies along with him. Or so his friends and acquaintances think. Job Streatley, a young out of work actor, knows he has something explosive when he finds Richmond's diary and he takes it straight to the newspapers. Job wants money, but Digby Price, owner of News Universal wants more than that; he wants revenge. And all the information he needs to destroy Minster for Defenece Procurement Richard Tancred, is in Richmond's diary. Price publishes. Tancred sues. As Mordecai Ledbury QC and his adversary in court, the arrogant young Turk Patrick Foxley investigate Richmond's gossipy allegations, the case against Tancred looks increasingly strong. And when Tancred's co-accused murders his wife and then kills himself, his fate looks sealed. But Tancred is planning his own courtroom confession and what he has to reveal is far more tragic than the political shame Richmond thought he had stumbled across.