"He was face down in the water. It swirled around him, thick with blood. Deep red, like an oil slick."

With another mysterious cold case on their radar, DI David Lancaster and DS Marie Vidêt travel to the island of Jersey in the English Channel, to investigate the death of Peter Urbawicz, a retired World War II spitfire pilot, whose death twenty years prior was recorded by the island police as 'accidental'.

With his daughter, Lady Stottard, adamant that her father died in suspicious circumstances, can these two detectives investigate without ruffling any feathers? Can they pick apart the facts and route out the clues to prove his death was not an accident, when said facts and clues have lain buried for twenty years?

When their enquiries trigger a visit from British Counter Terrorism operatives, the case becomes even more complicated, and they are left wondering how an IRA terrorist, a French boatyard owner, and an ex-East German STASI officer fit into their case...