King Charles Island, a sleepy British colony in the West Indies, comes suddenly awake after the terrible murder of its most influential citizen. The supposed culprit is the hapless Peregrine Gore - assistant to banker sleuth Mark Treasure - but he'd rather flee than stop and sample the island's rudimentary justice system.

Treasure arrives on the island to find it in mayhem, and volunteers to help the baffled Chief Inspector find the real villain from among a bewildering bunch of suspects. But this time he may have bitten off more than he can chew - it will be hard to prove Peregrine's innocence when he was discovered clutching the victim's severed head...

Treasure up in Smoke is the third bombastic installment in David Williams' wonderfully witty series of murder mysteries about urbane banker and detective, Mark Treasure.