On the tiny Caribbean island of Mill Walk, high society flourishes and the desires of the rich are usually satisfied. But it isn’t so simple when it comes to Tom Pasmore’s boyish enthusiasm for the pleasures of detective work. When Tom discovers that his neighbour Lamont von Heilitz was once a renowned amateur sleuth, his growing friendship with the man meets with disapproval. But Tom’s interest in murder cases arouses more than mere disapproval, for Mill Walk as a place where murders are tidied up like so many pieces of litter, and some very powerful people feel they are best left that way.
One murder particularly fascinates Tom - the 1925 killing of Jeanine Thielman at Eagle Lake, the exclusive Wisconsin holiday resort patronised only by the cream of Mill Walk society. When his grandfather - usually a distant figure - rewards Tom’s decision to study engineering by giving him a rare holiday at Eagle Lake, Tom succeeds in annoying a lot of people very quickly. His love affair with Sarah Spence - already earmarked for marriage to the son of Mill Walk’s most powerful family - is bad enough. But when Tom starts poking into the Thielman murder, he is in danger of uncovering the dark secrets of the people who own and run Mill Walk.
