Freddy left her childhood home in Newhaven twenty-two years ago and swore never to return. But now her parents are dead, and she's back in her hometown to help her brothers manage the family fishmonger. Nothing here has changed: the stink of fish coming up from the marshes; the shopping trolleys half-buried by muddy tides; the neighbours sniffing for a new piece of gossip. It's not what Freddy would have chosen, but at least while she's here she'll get to see her childhood best friends, Toni and Pauline. At school, the three of them were inseparable. The teachers called them the Mermaids for their obsession with the sea, and with each other. Then Pauline goes missing, and Freddy must decide. Go back to her new life, or stay and find her friend? Praise for the author: "One of the most original characters in British crime fiction ... Thomson's plots are original and she draws her characters with genuine affection" SUNDAY TIMES "In the best traditions of the classic whodunnit, this is Midsomer Murders for grown-ups" SUNDAY EXPRESS "A wonderfully eerie London setting and a chilling plot ... Lesley Thomson is one of our leading crime writers" ELLY GRIFFITHS "A clever mystery plot ... Its excellence is in the characters, all credible and memorable" LITERARY REVIEW "Gloriously well-written ... Thomson creates a rich and sinister world that is utterly unique" WILLIAM SHAW