Major characters:
- Madame Nadine, a dancer and a spy
- Count Sergius Pavolvitch, Russian spy
- Anne Beddingfeld, young adventurer, our protagonist
- L.B. Carton, "Mothball Man", electrocuted on the third rail
- Sir Eustace Pedler, M.P., owner of the house to let
- Mrs. deCastina, victim found in Pedler's house
- The Man in the Brown Suit, a.k.a. The Fake Doctor
- Lord Masby, publisher of The Daily Budget
- Colonel Race
- Mrs. Clarence Blair
Synopsis:
Upon the passing of her father, young Anne Beddingfeld is ready to leave London to seek adventure and romance. She is standing on the subway platform when another passenger is startled and falls off the platform, getting himself electrocuted on the third rail. As she watches, he is hauled off the tracks and declared dead by a man claiming to be a doctor. She observes his procedure is quite un-doctor-like. As he departs the scene, he drops a paper with a notation: 17 . 122 Kilmorden Castle.
The Daily Budget reports the victim was identified as L.B. Carton, and was carrying a real estate order-to-view for Mill House, up for rent by Sir Eustace Pedler, M.P. Not only that, but a murdered woman was found in Mill House, identified as Mrs. deCastina. She also had an order-to-view, and met a man there, apparently her murderer. He was wearing a distinctive brown suit, and Anne realizes that he is the fake doctor from the subway incident.
Anne noticed the dead man had a distinct mothball odor, so she refers to him as "Mothball Man". She approaches Scotland Yard with her information, but the inspector there seems uninterested. She then goes to the pubisher of The Daily Budget, Lord Nasby, who agrees to support her in her amateur investigation in search of a publishable story.
She tries to locate Kilmorden Castle without luck, then finds it is not a place, but the name of a passenger liner. She books passage on it to South Africa.
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