Left for eternity in a small rural hamlet in southern England is a treasure of ever-expanding value. Almost no-one knows it exists and even less people know its location. A mystery lost to time. The Watch Man is a magician who deals in time. Born in the market town of Beckington near Bath and mentored by an ageing fellow-magician, Mr Entwistle, in the dark arts of illusion and misdirection, he perfects his trade in London and then Manchester. Close-up magic is The Watch Man's stock-in-trade and cards, coins and most of all timepieces, his entertainment tools. The parting gift of a gold pocket watch from Mr E, is of precious value and utility, and he manipulates it to great effect as the source of perfect conjuring. In Blackpool he masters the illusion of presence.

His greatest skill may be disappearing in plain view. He develops it under the tutelage of The Magnificent Montague and when he joins forces with The Marvelous Maldini their shows draw rave reviews. Life is good on the road and even the senior magician's beautiful assistant, Silvia Foschini, takes a liking to The Watch Man. Her magic is to turn him from a boy to a man. It's all going well until, years later, The Watch Man presents himself at his local London police station and announces the killing of fourteen lost souls; dead at his hand and he is no longer a magician but a serial killer. This time his claim is more than a simple, well-rehearsed illusion. Constables Steve Marchant and Harriet McGovern and their lawyer friend Jenny Forrester are inadvertently thrust into the case?but what case? Is it murder, kidnapping, robbery, deception, or the ultimate magic act and can they solve it if they can't tell whether there has been a crime at all?.