Laura Marlin's favourite character is ace-detective Matt Walker. With a suitcase full of the books that have long been her window on the world, Laura goes to live with her uncle in Cornwall, convinced that a life of adventure is hers at last. But everywhere she turns she's confronted with mysteries. Nothing is what it seems.

Is Tariq, the shopkeeper's silent son, a friend or an enemy? Why does her uncle seem intent on erasing his own past? And why is everyone so afraid of Dead Man's Cove? When Laura finds a message in a bottle, she embarks on a deadly quest that will test her detective skills to the limit and set her on a collision course with villains who will stop at nothing to get their own way.