All children were a mixture of innocence and guile, Chris Blackie thought, but the innocence had been squashed out of Boby McGilvrey unnaturally young.

A shocking murder rocks the quiet coastal Victorian town of Queenscliff, a place where police work usually entails minor traffic infringements and dealing with the occasional Saturday night drunk.

Local senior constable Chris Blackie and his deputy Anthea Merritt fully expect a murder investigation to be handled by the Criminal Investigation Unit based in Geelong. But they're blind-sided by the interest shadowy figures from the secret military training base on nearby Swan Island take in the case.

Consigned to the edges of the investigation and fearing an imminent wrongful conviction, Chris and Anthea defy their superiors to follow their own lines of enquiry - at great personal risk.

A worthy addition to Dorothy Johnston's sea-change mysteries, The Swan Island Connection follows on from Through a Camel's Eye, once again bringing Queenscliff to life.