A strong cast of sharply-drawn and colourful characters gives Bob Burns and his two unlikely sidekicks plenty to cope with in an intriguing story of greed, guile, deceit and double-dealing that's sparked off by the discovery of a severed finger in a cruise ship passenger's quiche lorraine.

Does the finger belong to an alleged man-overboard victim? Was the man overboard pushed or did he commit suicide? Is it all just a cleverly engineered insurance scam? Does a shady Eastern European billionaire's interest in gaining control of a famous British football club have anything to do with all of this?

These are just a few of the many questions that Bob&Co. must find answers to as they travel to Mallorca to join the cruise liner Ostentania en route to the Canary Islands. Will they encounter trouble in Tenerife, lawlessness in Lanzarote or, perhaps, even grand larceny in Gran Canaria? Confusing coincidences pop up like mushrooms as Bob strives to solve what he initially considers to be an unsolvable crime - if indeed any crime has been committed at all.