On a twilit autumn night, the Falbright Jenny ferries forty passengers back to Falbright from Elmer’s Creek. Except, before the ferry can make it across the River Hore, she ends up marooned on a sand back. Mysteriously, the skipper is no where to be found.

But when the pilot’s body is later found under the pier, stabbed in the back, local authorities realise this was more than just an accident.

Though Scotland Yard’s best and brightest, Detective-Inspector Littlejohn and Sergeant Cromwell, are called in to investigate the case, they make slow progress solving the small town crime.

From local liars to wartime secrets, the whole case is muddled. The only thing that is clear: someone is trying to cover their tracks and Littlejohn and Cromwell must trace the few clues they have in order to solve the mystery before any one else dies.