Chief Inspector Daniel Jacquot has been enjoying the quiet life in a peaceful Provencal village. A former rugby international, who once scored the winning try against England at Twickenham, Jacquot sports a trademark ponytail and loves food, wine - and one woman, artist Claudine. Now, however, he must leave her to go to Paris, where Marseilles Magistrate, Solange Bonnefoy's niece has been abducted.

As the trail of violence and corruption leads Jacquot back to the ancient seaport, with its bloody history of slave trafficking, another utterly shocking and unexpected murder sets the investigation galloping in a wholly new direction and Jacquot has to go undercover.