Detective Chief Inspector Christopher Davenport of the Bedfordshire Police is approaching middle-age, lonely and depressed. He drinks too much, lacks motivation and is losing interest in his job. Life is beginning to wash over him. An apparent suicide, then a suspicious death on the railway draw him into the mysterious world of marine science. He travels to Essex, where, at the NEFAS laboratory in Chalkhill, he meets a young scientist, Gemma Trotsky,...