The story starts with two fisherman - Conrad Labarde and Rollo Kemp pulling the body of a young woman from the sea. From then on the story unfolds til it reaches it's climax and we find out who murdered her and why. I found the story of the murder itself quite slow but halfway through it did pick up the pace a bit. I did enjoy the sections of Conrad's past - his boyhood in Spain and his experiences in WW2 but I just found the book lacked a little something for me - the plot didn't grip me and make me desperate to know what happened. The side story of Mary and Tom, the policeman were interesting but again not gripping. On saying that I don't think this book was meant to be like this - it's slow paced on purpose but maybe a bit too slow? Not read any of his other books but would read another before I decided I wasn't a fan of his writing.