Villagers in the small town of Newton-Upon-Sea in 1881 Essex are stunned by the death of a retired admiral of Her Majesty's Navy and even more shocked at the state in which he is found. Everyone is ready to assume that he took a drunken fall from a cliff, except for Dr. Alexandra Gladstone.

Along with Nancy, her maid; the London barrister, Nicholas Forsythe; and her faithful dog, Zack, she will battle local authorities, morticians, and the gossip of the town in or order to learn the truth. When she does, the truth is even worse than she could ever have imagined.

Cover design by Deborah Greenfield