My name is Kinsey Millhone. I'm thirty-two years old, twice married, no kids, currently unattached and likely to remain so given my disposition, which is cautious at best . . .

Seventeen years had passed since Jean Timberlake's body had been found at the foot of the sea wall.

At the time, Bailey Fowler, an ex-boyfriend of hers, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. Now he'd changed his tune.

Kinsey Millhone was called in to solve the case - then she stumbled on the dark secrets of a family's buried past . . .

`Kinsey Millhone is one of the most convincing private investigators in operation' Independent

`An alphabet of prime puzzles' Sunday Times

`Kinsey Millhone is up there with the giants of the private eye genre . . . exhilarating stuff' Times Literary Supplement