When former police detective Ted Conkaffey was wrongly accused of abducting Claire Bingley, he hoped the Queensland rainforest town of Crimson Lake would be a good place to disappear. But nowhere is safe from Claire's devastated father. Meanwhile, in a dark roadside hovel called the Barking Frog Inn, the bodies of two young bartenders lie on the beer-sodden floor. Detective Inspector Pip Sweeney's first homicide investigation is complicated by the arrival of private detective Amanda Pharrell to "assist" on the case. For Ted and Amanda, redemption is certainly on the cards-- but it may well cost them their lives.