Though initially an occult murder mystery, the story brings in conspiracy theory, vendetta, horror, history, and Theosophy.

Doyle contacts Claude Leboux, a friend and Scotland Yard Inspector to investigate, but the house where the seance took place has been redecorated.

She warns him of dark spirits and after a meal he is attacked and is rescued by "Professor Sacker" for a second time who turns out to be Jack Sparks, Special Agent to the Crown.

Their plan is to take control of Prince Edward, Duke of Clarence, third in line to the throne, and use him to enslave the world by putting a demon in his future child.

Alexander appeared to be a very loving and nice brother who explained to Jack the exercises and routines by which he developed himself mentally and physically (somewhat similar to the Doc Savage Method Of Self-development).

Alexander did not appear in Salzburg, but a month into Jack's visit he was called to the principal's office where he was told that his parents had been killed in a tragic house fire.

This story is set when Arthur Conan Doyle was just beginning his career as a writer, he is a young man (26 years old) whose medical practice is not very successful and is somewhat lacking in confidence.

In the story Doyle submits a manuscript entitled "The Dark Brotherhood" which concerns a cabal of evil magicians which is too close to the truth for a certain group of individuals.

Their father, a railroad man, spent a lot of time working and this resulted in Larry and Barry getting into all kinds of mischief, starting off as pickpockets and finally becoming burglars.

The brothers lay low for three weeks and finally when breaking into an antiques store in Portobello, Jack was waiting for them with a policeman, and offered them one more time to go straight or go to jail.

By the age of thirteen Alexander began breaking into homes to hone his stealth tactics and also violently raped several young women.

She and three other players, including her fiancé, were hired for a very large sum of money to participate in a once-off performance of a seance which they were told was a practical joke.

Located at 26 Montague Street, Jack's London headquarters is a Georgian townhouse full of curious items, guarded by Zeus a large dog.

Sitting at the far end of the room is a long chemistry bench covered with an array of apparatus, behind it is a very large map of London studded with a legion of red- and blue-headed pins.

In one corner is a display cabinet holding a diverse collection of antique and exotic weaponry, from Stone Age daggers, to flintlocks, to ninja throwing stars.

In the opposite corner there sits a stack of index cabinets with 12 drawers called "The Brain", above which is a bull's-eye target of thatched straw with the letters VR spelled out in bullet holes.

It consists of an index card per criminal in alphabetical order, with the following information; their age, their date and place of birth, family history, schooling and service records; recognised methods of operation, known confederates, cell mates, bed mates and habitates; physical description, aliases, arrests, convictions and time served.

Each card is encoded in an amalgam of mathematical formula, Urdu, Sanskrit, and an obscure variation of the Finno-Ugric root language.

Let the Light and Love and Power restore the plan to Earth.Because the premise of the novel is that Doyle was inspired by what happened to him to write his successful works, there are strong parallels between many characters and events in the novel and Doyle's works: Several historical persons appear as characters: Some sketches for a potential movie adaptation of The List of Seven are included in the 2013 book Guillermo del Toro Cabinet of Curiosities.

In the text del Toro comments that the characterization of Jack Sparks he envisioned is similar to Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes.