Peter Maxwell returns from his year-long sabbatical in America expecting a nasty case of jet lag. Instead, he lands in the middle of a nasty case of murder. The body of fourteen-year-old schoolgirl Josie Blakemore is discovered on Leighford beach. She’s been strangled. Then another fourteen-year-old girl is found murdered on the same beach. And a third girl goes missing. The prime suspect is Bernard Ryan, deputy head of Leighford High. He’s the strictest teacher at the school. But is he a killer? Determined to prove his colleague’s innocence Maxwell sets out to uncover the truth. He’s always caught the killer before. But could this be the case that breaks him?