Sam Rhys, a former San Francisco homicide inspector now a political science professor at the University in Perth on the western coast of Australia where the locals are referred to as "Sandgropers", is happy.

Happy to be termed a "Sandgroper". Happy to be in this sunny, laidback land near his friend from college Alex Rosen. Happy to be in love with Martha Malaxos, Sam's personal, tall, blonde Greek goddess. Happy to be away from his past life especially since the particularly heartbreaking murder of a little girl drove him from San Francisco years ago.

But as Sam knows, the ugly side of life seems to haunt him even in his little paradise. Once again, he is drawn into a murder investigation, and this one seems impossible to solve.

Alex, a reporter with the local paper, asks Sam to read a psychiatric case history of a schizophrenic. Alex believes this case history is the key to solving a 15-year-old murder - the death of Wilson Sang.

Sam can't find anything in the document that suggests that a murder even took place, but Martha thinks there is a key. In fact, she discovers who the murderer is after two hours of digging. Sam is flabbergasted.

But one little problem stands in their way. They can never prove it. The only witness is a child, a very sick child who claims to have seen the murder being committed in a parking lot while he was riding on a train. And that child is now an adult living in a mental institution for schizophrenics.

As Sam and Martha try to gather evidence, one bizarre fact after another crops up including an unexplained disappearance, written off as an accident at sea, that Sam is convinced is the key to proving who killed Wilson Sang. As Sam pursues the evidence, evil once again threatens all that he values.