After the death of her husband, Liz McLuckie has taken early retirement and moved to Whitby, a picturesque fishing town on the North Yorkshire coast. She thinks the renovation of two ramshackle fishing cottages will take her mind off things, but she soon discovers Whitby isn't quite the peaceful retreat she imagined. When she discovers the body of a local Professor near the medieval Abbey, Liz reluctantly finds herself at the center of a murder investigation. The post mortem reveals death by drowning. So how did he get onto the clifftop? And why did he have a fish in his pocket? Liz follows the trail of the murderer, and many red herrings—both literal and metaphorical—in the company of her friends, including an almost-reformed burglar, a disgraced archaeology student, and Nelson the bull terrier, the ugliest (and bravest!) dog in Yorkshire.