The darkest secrets lie right beneath the surface.

On Boxing Day a mystery woman's body is found washed up under Teignmouth Pier. She has no ID but is wearing a wetsuit. When the post-mortem shows heavy metal poisoning, DI Jan Talantire is called in.

Talantire herself is caught in an ongoing game of cat-and-mouse against her nemesis Commander Brent West. Her complaint against him for abusive behaviour foundered when she was accused by the investigating panel of collusion with another complainant, PC Nadine Lister, to bring West down.

With her career hanging by a thread, Talantire discovers that the route to solving the mystery is tangled up with the death of the woman on the Devon Coast. Brent West, it seems, will go to any lengths to protect his career.

And that includes murder.

A multi-faceted, suspense-filled crime thriller dealing not only with the investigation at its core, but corruption and misconduct within the police force.