Clifford Flush, happily-if wrongly-acquitted of and semi-contentedly retired from the pursuit of murder, has not felt the need to off anyone in ages. Sure, he fled London when the return of the old urges left him open to a spot of blackmail, but he's been doing fine-thriving, in fact. He and the other members of the Asterisk Club, all murderers the law couldn't manage to hold, have turned the gory business of killing into a legitimate business venture: they've set up a homicide consultancy firm and are teaching discerning students the ropes (and guns, and getaways). Nice work if you can get it...or it is until one aspiring killer turns up dead on their very own premises. It's an intolerable embarrassment, and the culprit must be found out!