A golfer disappearing into thin air from a sand trap is more than new police chief Dan Shepard bargained for when he left the big city for the supposedly quiet resort town of Carmel, California.

"Let me get this straight," Shepard said. "Not only does the victim vanish from the scene of the crime, and wind up someplace he really can''t be, but somewhere along the way he changed his socks?"

As if that problem wasn''t enough, Shepard also has to contend with the constant interference of an irascible amateur sleuth, Herman de Portola Bliss. Bliss is an artist with no talent for painting, but an unerring eye for clues, and an even greater talent for getting into trouble.

As the case twists and turns its way along the shores of scenic Monterey Bay, the mismatched pair finds themselves drawn into an edgy partnership confronted with more than one dead body. Even Bliss may not be good enough for this one.