The neat suburban homes of the Peninsula seem like an improbable setting for sex parties, blackmail and murder. But when D.I. Hal Challis is called to investigate the murder of Janine McQuarrie – shot in a deserted country lane in front of her seven-year-old daughter – his progress is hampered by a web of lies and secrets. Everybody has something to hide, something to lose. And someone in Waterloo is determined to kill again.