mystery writer harriet vane recovering from an unhappy love affair and its aftermath seeks solace on a barren beach deserted but for the body of a bearded young man with his throat cutfrom the moment she photographs the corpse which soon disappears with the tide she is puzzled by a mystery that might have been suicide murder or a political plotwith the appearance of her dear friend lord peter wimsey she finds a reason for detective pursuit as only the two of them can pursue it storms younger cousinvandals little brotheryouve met him in the backgroundthe sweet one the nice one the one they can all rely onthe good onehes a tattoo artist he plays metal and classical music on the violinhes got a body built for sinhes 24in comes ivy shes a 36 year old single mom who hasnt dated in 18 years all she wanted was a tattooshe got a helluva lot more being good has never been so bad