An intelligent and thrilling literary fiction whodunit for fans of Delia Owens and Jacqueline Winspear

The Second World War is raging overseas, but life remains painfully quiet on the rugged New England fishing island of Fourth Cliff—an afterthought of an island now home to only aged fishermen, drunks, and an Italian POW camp guarded by damaged and subpar American soldiers.

With her husband Archie, the island’s beloved police captain, off fighting in the Marines, Mary Beth Swann steps into his role, without the respect of Fourth Cliff’s hardscrabble residents. When a murdered POW surfaces in a fisherman’s net, and soon more bodies appear, Mary Beth’s hold on order and rule wears thin. She must rely on the help of a simple-minded deputy, a disgraced doctor, and a mob-connected mainlander to find the person responsible… all while Swann’s loneliness, uncertainty, and self-doubt threaten to derail her investigation.