A small box of ivory for holding snuff, with no real value, has been stolen from the French ambassador. Detective Duvall is ordered to travel back to London emergently, and recover the snuff box at all costs.

Frederic Arnold Kummer (1873-1943) was an American author, playwright and screen writer. He wrote in various genres including spy and international mysteries, detective novels, romances and non-fiction. Under the pseudonym Arnold Fredericks he wrote a series of mysteries featuring the detective Richard Duvall.