It’s 1968 and times are changing, not always for the better. And especially not for the charred body found buried in the smoking ruins of the Sandpiper reception centre where the local football club has just held its end of year celebrations.
As police officers Lloyd Cole and Christine Sheridan probe the suspicious death they uncover disturbing evidence about the dead man’s dark practices. And with it the number of suspects pile up.
There’s the Sandpiper’s owners, Mark and Gary Weaver, Mark Weaver’s jealous girlfriend, corrupt shire councillors, Henderson the fruit shop owner, the backers of the Early Settlers housing estate, local farmer Tito Cavallo and marijuana-growing orchardists.
Then there’s the dead man’s own murky past in wartime Yugoslavia.
The investigation comes to a head on Guy Fawkes Night as more fires erupt, including one that engulfs a suspect linked to the Sandpiper fire.
But as Cole and Sheridan untangle the mystery even they aren’t prepared for the shocks that are finally revealed.
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