Most of George Hebert's body has gone up in smoke. Although the once notorious artist's death has all the appearance of Spontaneous Human Combustion, Inspector Boggs approaches the case as he would any suspicious death. The bizarre circumstances and the whiff of an old scandal lures arcane researcher Wilbur Osterley to the investigation. Boggs enlists Osterley's services as amateur sleuth in untangling a mystery that exposes a Pandora's box of secrets that go back decades.