From the moment Michael Lobb met Kayla on a cruise, he was desperate to have her for himself.  She was the dance instructor and Michael was there with his wife on an anniversary cruise.  But once he met Kayla, that was it.  He throws aside his marriage even though he causes a rupture with his children that can't be repaired and wins Kayla and brings her to his home in Cornwall.

No one knows what Kayla expected but it probably wasn't a small cottage in Cornwall with little money to spare.  During his courtship, Michael spent money like water but in reality he was barely getting by.  He worked on the land in a business handed down through generations, mining and streaming tin which he made into jewelry and other objects he sold.   Now he lies dead, stabbed with some implement that can't be found.

Who could it be?  The representative from Eco-Mining which is buying up Cornwall land to extract lithium from underground water reserves and who found the body?  Michael's brother who owns forty percent of the business and wants to sell?  Michael's children who have plans for the money to buy houses of their own?  Kayla who wants to return to her original home in South Africa or her brother who has come to visit and to talk her into coming home?  The father and son who work for him?

When the local police can't solve the crime in a short time, they ask for help from Scotland Yard.  Inspector Lynley needs to visit his estate to make a plan for extensive repairs and his partner Barbara is on compassionate leave.  It turns out the men who work for Michael are the birth family of the woman Lynley loves and she is in town as well to help her brother who is suspected by the police.  All these individuals do what they can to solve Michael's murder.

This is the twenty-second novel in the Inspector Lynley series.  Mystery readers are familiar with the characters of Lynley and his partner.  The mystery is intriguing and the personalities of Michael and Kayla are slowly revealed as well as how their marriage has led to tragedy.  This book is recommended for mystery readers.