Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a bloodstained history of piracy and cruelty but now, privately owned, it offers respite to over-stressed men and women in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But the peace of Combe is violated when one of the distinguished visitors is bizarrely murdered. Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery quickly and discreetly, but at a difficult time for him and...

Inspector Dalgliesh and his extraordinary aunt set out to discover the shocking truth about the past of a famous mystery writer--whose ghastly murder left a circle of bizarre friends terrified that they are next on the killer's list.