When Tim Harding agrees to do a favour for a tax-exile friend by representing him at an auction in Penzance, he is unaware of the secrets that tie the ring he is sent to buy to three widely separated events: the loss of HMS Association with all hands of Scilly in 1707; an unsolved murder in Penzance thirty years later; and the seemingly accidental drowning of a journalist diving at the Association wreck site in 1999. Very soon he discovers that by taking on this apparently simple task he has allowed himself to be drawn into a web of conspiracies.
The ring is stolen before it can be auctioned. The murder that follows may not be the first - or last - in a series designed to conceal crucial facts about the ring's origins. Close to the heart of the mystery stands a young woman whom Harding is certain he recognizes, even though they have never met before. His life begins to unravel around him as he goes in search of her identity - and of his own place in the hidden scheme of things. Somewhere, a perilous truth awaits him, coupled with a terrible realization: those who uncover that truth are not allowed to live...
