Stone Barrington has barely arrived in St. Marks, a lovely Caribbean island nation, for a planned sailing vacation when something very strange happens: a beautiful young woman sails into the harbor entirely alone on a large yacht.

Before long she is under the intense scrutiny of local authorities in the very considerable person of Sir Winston Sutherland, the local Minister of Justice. The problem is that, although she arrived alone, she had departed the east side of the Atlantic in the company of her husband, a well-known writer who is no longer in evidence.

As a lawyer, evidence is what fascinates Stone and, before many pages have been turned, he is all that stands between the apparently innocent Allison Manning and the patently evil intent of Sir Winston whose motives are unclear. What is clear to Stone is that the St. Marks' system of justice bears little resemblance to the American courts to which he is accustomed, and any small error could prove fatal to his client.

Librarian's note: the characters, settings, etc. for the first 30 books in the series are complete: #1, New York Dead, 1991; #2, Dirt, 1996; #3, Dead in the Water, 1997; #4, Swimming to Catalina, 1998; #5, Worst Fears Realized, 1999; #6, L.A. Dead, 2000; #7, Cold Paradise, 2001; #8, The Short Forever, 2002; #9, Dirty Work, 2003; #10, Reckless Abandon, 2004; #11, Two Dollar Bill, 2004; #12. Dark Harbor, 2006; #13, Fresh Disasters, 2007; #14, Shoot Him if He Runs, 2007; #15, Hot Mahogany, 2008; #16, Loitering with Intent, 2009; #17, Kisser, 2009; #18, Lucid Intervals, 2010; #19, Strategic Moves, 2010; #20, Bel-Air Dead, 2011; #21, Son of Stone, 2011; #22, D.C. Dead, 2011; #23, Unnatural Acts, 2012; #24, Severe Clear, 2012; #25, Collateral Damage, 2012; #26, Unintended Consequences, 2013; #27, Doing Hard Time, 2013; #28, Standup Guy, 2014; #29, Carnal Curiosity, 2014, and #30, Cut & Thrust, 2014.