A police detective on England's southern coast finds himself struggling with cases both old and new, in a mystery with "a surprising conclusion" (Booklist).

When a body is found floating in the sea off Portsmouth Harbor, Detective Inspector Horton judges it to be an accidental death, but soon discovers he's got it very wrong. Under pressure from his superiors, Horton wonders if his ongoing investigation into the disappearance of his mother over thirty years ago has begun to cloud his judgement. Against all the odds, he must now not only find a brutal killer, but also prove—to himself as well as everyone else—that he is still up to the job . . .

This is a riveting police mystery with an atmospheric seaside twist from an author who "deserves mention in the same breath as works in the upper echelon of American procedurals (those by Ed McBain or Joseph Wambaugh for example) and their British counterparts, including the work of Peter Robinson and John Harvey. Procedural fans who haven't already read Rowson should be encouraged to do so in the strongest possible terms" (Booklist, starred review).