Part of Inspector Lynley, book 15
First published 2008
Thomas Lynley walks the Cornish coastline alone, hoping the physical exhaustion will dull his emotional pain. For a month he has pushed himself along the rugged cliffs, but the memories refuse to fade. When he discovers what appears to be a young man who has fallen to his death, Lynley finds himself drawn into local police business despite wanting only solitude. The nearby town attracts surfers, not criminals, making murder seem unlikely in this remote corner of Cornwall. Lynley becomes a witness rather than the investigating officer, but the understaffed local police need his expertise. A mysterious woman lives in a cottage close to where the body was found, and her connection to the death remains unclear. Lynley must decide whether to retreat further into his private grief or engage with a case that threatens to pull him back into the detective work he came to Cornwall to escape.
Genres: mystery, crime, contemporary, thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-detective, fish-out-of-water
Setting: Cornwall, United Kingdom
Period: Contemporary
640 pages · Hardcover · Harper