Basil Palmer plans to murder a man called Louis Carson. The problem is Palmer doesn't know anything about his victim, including where to find him.

After learning that Carson resides in a place called Hemlock Bay, Palmer travels there, posing as Dr Seamus Doyle and plotting murder along the way. Meanwhile, after hearing a psychic has predicted a murder will take place in Hemlock Bay, amateur sleuth Rachel Savernake sets off, determined to discover the serpent that has slithered into this idyllic Eden. When murder does occur at the resort, and after meeting a mysterious doctor called Seamus, Rachel finds herself entering a maze of intricate mysteries – just where she likes to be…