Having arrived to visit her sister on a secluded island and the southern sea, young actress Lucy Waring learns that her theatrical idol, the magnificent Julian Gale, who suddenly left the stage two years ago, lives next door. His stay on the island is shrouded in some kind of mystery, which Lucy cannot penetrate. Suddenly, the tranquility of the peaceful island explodes with a series of terrible events: someone opens fire on the beach, Gale’s godson drowns in the sea, and then Lucy finds the corpse of a man whom she saw near Gale’s house just the day before. Behind all this fear, danger and death is a man for whom murder is nothing more than a game.

Mary Stewart is one of the most famous writers in the world. Her books sell millions of copies. M. Stewart's novels amazingly combine an intellectual detective story and a romantic story.