Acerbic professor Marjorie Summerharp was reborn on Martha's Vineyard -- her mind and acid-tongue sharpened by the island's gentle waves and whispering breezes. So why would she walk into the ocean on a warm June morning, to be swallowed up forever by the hungry, merciless sea? Ex-Boston-cop "J. W. " Jackson knows that evil can flourish even in the most serene of settings. And the more he investigates, the more it appears that the mysterious "accidental" death of the renowned local scholar was more premeditated than it originally appeared. But nosing around in a snake pit of academic jealousy, adultery, and bogus religion could prove deadly for the policeman-turned-fisherman... especially when Jackson exposes too many sinister secrets that are well worth killing for.