When John Cunningham’s new wife decides to accompany him on a wildfowling expedition into the dark, windy marshland of the Eden Estuary, he secretly hopes she will dislike it enough to leave him to his solitary sport. Their private outing comes to an abrupt end when a dead body washes up at their feet and they find themselves at the centre of a violent crime. An autopsy reveals fresh water in lungs that should have been full of salt water. At the crime scene there is also a lost dog, and a man desperate to retrieve her, lest she betray the single, incontrovertible clue in the mystery.