A subtropical island off the Australian coast – an ideal place to retire. Right – and – wrong! Lockie, ex-New Zealand schoolteacher, got it wrong. When Lockie accepts the invitation of a lone mariner to visit him on his yacht, The Mountain View, he finds the man dead. poisoned and dying. That starts it. That, deeply offends Lockie, a gentle man with a gentle wit and a passion for justice. He needs to know why the death; who did it; – and Lockie is a determined man. With his great friend, Scotty, and later with Alice, he prods and pokes until he gets too near the truth, is kidnapped with Alice and held aboard the sinister South American sloop, The Red Admiral. They witness a trial run of a new technical smuggling system and they know that unless they do something drastic they will die. Drastic is a mild word for what happens when they make their bid for freedom … when death certainly reaches for them… Desmond Kelly's brilliance as an author is that he takes us into the depths of his characters' souls. He has a crafty insight into human nature and his characters are alive; real people. A must read for those who love superb writing and a good plot. - Robbie Kirk