The story begins in a remote coastal corner os West Scotland, where the middle aged members of a club « The Good Comrades » have taken out heavy insurance policies with each other as beneficiaries. The insurance agent brings the case to Holmes when two of the members suddenly die horribly. Holmes has to beat master minds of crime to discover who is behind the murders and with the aid of Watson find the killer stalking the halls of The House Of Fear. « Murder is an insidious thing. Once a man has dipped his fingers in blood, sooner or later he’ll feel the urge to kill agian ».