The loss of a lifeboat along with all three of its crews is a hard blow for the small town of Knockhaven. But it's harder still when police discover that the wreck may not have been a simple accident. Was it the act of bored vandals in a fishing port stricken with unemployment? Was there a link to the drug trade which has taken root in the locality? Or is there someone who, in their determination to kill one person, was callous enough to take two innocent lives? As Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming and her team investigate the murders with a whole community hungry for justice, the pressure--professional and personal--is on.