England, 1952. A body washes up on Brighton beach and Lawyer Toby Whitby's secretary swears she knows the corpse's identity. One woman claims the man with no hands is the father of her child; another woman swears that he is her son but Toby Whitby must look to the dark days of 1940 to find the true identity of the dead man with no hands.Toby's search leads him from a child stolen by gypsies in the First World War, to a faded film star who lies for a living, to London gangsters, and on to a notorious member of the British Royal Family.With danger and death at every turn, he faces his final battle for survival on board a sinking ship in the North Sea.Can Toby find the truth? Is the man with no hands a hero or a traitor?