"We did not hunger for death or the manner in which we met it... We alone must atone for the tragedy that tore us apart... eternity beckons... " On one baking hot Wednesday, Rachel Cook's boat trip to Shire's Island begins with the discovery of a handful of weather-beaten gravestones surrounding a salt-encrusted pool. Rachel's extraordinary memory wouldn't let her forget that sweltering day and the odd epitaph chiselled into the greyest of gravestones. That day had changed everything, and she knew her life would never be the same again. With her family's financial affairs in a right old pickle, the Cooks moved into an insignificant seaside town. With her only friend beside her, Rachel makes new ones and rekindles an old one, and they investigate the strange going-ons around the town of Lower-Inkcome-by-the-sea.