The year is 1861 and Constable Faro is heading back to Orkney to enjoy some home comforts, armed with a private investigation into the death of an ex-colleague's relative, champion swimmer Dave Claydon, downed in mysterious circumstances. Was this an accident or a sinister connection with missing artefacts recovered from the Armada galleon sunk off Spanish Cove? At Scarthbreck his mother is determined to find him a wife and this Lammastide the legend of the seal king's annual claim of a human bride becomes reality. Faro's holiday and his original secret mission turn into a nightmare. With himself as the prime suspect in the girl's disappearance, he is in deadly danger, his life threatened by circumstances beyond his control.