Myra Swinley is convinced that her police constable husband's death was no accident, and that he would never have lost his footing on a dark, foggy November night on the quayside of Newhaven Harbour while on his beat. Determined to get to the truth she visits Scotland Yard to ask his former friend, Detective Superintendent Street, to investigate. But when Myra fails to return home from her visit to the Yard, Inspector Ryga is sent down to the Sussex coast to investigate. Accompanied by former war photographer, Eva Paisley, who has been airlifted back to England after suffering a wound incurred in Korea, Ryga's investigation soon begins to uncover some puzzling facts and he and Eva begin to unravel the mystery of why an ordinary police constable was murdered and his sensible law-abiding wife has gone missing.
When the body of a man dressed in a pinstriped suit is discovered by war photographer, Eva Paisley, in a secluded bay on Portland Island, Dorset, Inspector Alun Ryga of Scotland Yard is sent to investigate. Recently promoted, the thoughtful, observant Ryga, is on his first solo investigation outside of London, and is keen to prove his worth. Ignoring the warnings of the local police inspector, and the Dorset Chief Constable, that his trust in Eva Paisley is misjudged, Ryga quickly realises that her observations could provide the breakthrough he needs in a complex murder investigation and the answer to the haunting circumstances that have sent the man in the pinstriped suit to his death.
DI Horton of Portsmouth CID is assigned the case of a missing person: Jasper Kenton, a private investigator. Kenton's partner seems reluctant to help them, and Horton concludes that she is probably relieved to be rid of him. He instructs Sergeant Cantelli and DC Walters to put out the usual alerts, believing Kenton has probably run off with another woman. But when Kenton's car turns up, and a shocking discovery is made, things turn serious. Immediately, Horton finds himself embroiled in an investigation that has major personal ramifications and one in which he has no choice but to withhold vital information.
For his second mission, Art Marvik is detailed to attend the funeral of Bradley Pulford, whose body was washed up on an Isle of Wight beach in January – only he'd officially been declared dead 55 years earlier. So who is the imposter and why did he assume the name of a dead man? When an innocent woman is killed during the course of the investigation, Marvik realises that the stakes are much higher than he'd previously thought. As he begins to uncover a trail of deceit, corruption and murder that spans over half a century, Marvik must confront a ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to make sure that the sins of the past stay in the past.
A telephone call from a frantic Sergeant Cantelli to say that his nephew, Johnnie Oslow, is missing cuts short Detective Inspector Horton's sailing trip. Summoned back to the Isle of Wight, Horton learns that Johnnie has not shown up for racing during Cowes Week. The investigation is ranked low priority by Horton's boss, Detective Chief Inspector Lorraine Bliss. But events take a very different turn when the charred remains of a body are discovered in one of the disused tunnels at the Hilsea Lines in Portsmouth. With the arrival of Detective Chief Superintendent Sawyer of the Intelligence Directorate and Agent Harriet Eames of Europol, what began as the hunt for a missing man becomes the search for a ruthless killer.
