A Crimson Overture

Skeen and his painter wife, Dilys Jones, befriend a beautiful but lonely woman during a society party on Nob Hill, in San Francisco. She is a sculptress who tells them of her strange life. They invite her to dinner the next evening. They never see her again, but she leaves Skeen a claim ticket to a parcel whose contents draw him into the world of British, Soviet, and American espionage.