The story opens with the apparently accidental drowning of a sixth form student in the Norfolk countryside. As a matter of routine, or so it seems, the case passes across the desk of Detective Sergeant Smith, recently returned to work after an internal investigation into another case that has led to tensions between officers at Kings Lake police headquarters.
As a former Detective Chief Inspector, Smith could have retired by now, and it is clear some of his superiors wish that he would do so. With a new trainee detective in tow, Smith begins to unravel the truth about what happened to Wayne Fletcher. As the investigation proceeds, it becomes obvious that others are involved-some seem determined to prevent it, some seem to be taking too much interest. In the end Smith operates alone, having stepped too far outside standard procedures to ask for support. He knows his own safety might be at risk but he has not calculated on the life of his young assistant also being put in danger. Peter Grainger is the "creator of the greatest fictional sleuth you've probably never heard of" (Financial Times magazine). A former sixth-form English teacher, Peter is the author of 23 novels. He lives with his wife, sometimes a grandson, and a dog in a cottage in the Cambridgeshire fens. He travels as often as possible to the Norfolk coast he once called home.
