Detective Stilwell of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's department has been exiled. Once he manned a mainland homicide desk; now internal politics have relegated him to a low-key post, policing rustic Catalina Island. He's beginning to think he could get used to it. It's all business as usual in his new territory, following up drunk-and-disorderlies and petty thefts, until Stilwell receives a report of a body found wrapped in plastic at the bottom of the harbour. He begins working the case, and soon he's forced to cross all lines of protocol and jurisdiction in pursuit of justice. But when Stilwell discovers dark secrets hidden in the shadows he must now ask: Is Catalina really the serene island it appears to be or is it brewing a deadly poison? 'The pre-eminent detective novelist of his generation' -Ian Rankin 'Superb crime writing from a master' -The Australian