It is at one of these gatherings that Montmorency comes across Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who is the planner and supervisor of the ongoing London sewer project.
Montmorency realises that rich people do not normally smell like sewer water or wear ratty clothes, he finds himself in need of an accomplice—a fellow thief with knowledge, capability, and secrecy to perform the robberies.
Eventually the police pick up a man named "Freakshow", a friend of Montmorency's from his prison days, and pin Scarper's robberies on him.
His first assignment is to break into the Mauramanian embassy and listen for information that could prevent European war, which earns him a permanent position in the British government.
Eventually, Montmorency sheds the Scarper persona and returns all the stolen goods that remain in his possession, resolving to be an honest man.
Five years after the first book ended, Montmorency, the ex-thief and liar, and Lord George Fox-Selwyn have long become established as undercover agents for the British Crown.
The drug has severely affected his character and influenced his judgment, frequently landing Fox-Selwyn and himself in danger as well as leaking state secrets.
Meanwhile, Dr Robert Farcett accidentally kills one of his patients in an unnecessary gall bladder removal, in front of a live audience in an operating amphitheatre.
With Farcett about to give up medicine, and Montmorency near death from his drug addiction, Fox-Selwyn decides that the only way to save them both is to reunite the two men.
By bringing both men to the open air of Scotland, he hopes that Farcett will be able to cure Montmorency of his addiction, and regain his own confidence in medicine.
As the three friends spend time in Scotland, the bombing of a London train station[clarification needed] summons Fox-Selwyn back to England.
This is the third book in Eleanor Updale's series and takes place twenty years after the events of the first book Montmorency and his friend Lord George Fox-Selwyn are on a leisurely assignment, searching for Lord Astleman's missing scientific specimens in Italy shortly after the Bava-Beccaris massacre.
Frank, also in Florence with his family on vacation, is swept into the anarchists plot when his friend Guido pushes him to help him in one of the attacks.
The anarchist plans in Italy and Britain end in failure, though Gaetano Bresci later succeeds in killing King Umberto.
The fourth book in the series was released in March 2007, and takes place about a year after the events of Montmorency and the Assassins.
Robert Farcett is also ensnared in Armitage's web of lies to serve to bait Malpensa and keep Montmorency in line, under the guise of studying the psychology of the local silk factory's Italian immigrant population.
Montmorency's inability to explain the situation to his friends creates an emotional rift between them leading Tom to run away and explore the Canadian wilderness as an apprentice filmmaker, and pushes Mary away.
Montmorency and company return to London, enjoying a dinner party at Bargles where he catches up on family gossip, including the birth of Alex Fox-Selwyn's twins while continuing to hide his deep emotional turmoil.
It is then revealed that Armitage has been intercepting his letters to Mary in order to prevent Montmorency from explaining himself and healing the rift in their relationship caused by events surrounding Malpensa.
He receives an offer of work from an American Secret Service man named Fraser at Bargles and keeps it in mind for later, though he is leery of returning to America lest he cross paths with Armitage again.
The novel closes out on Montmorency taking a tour of London to see how the city has changed in his absence and walking off down the street alone.