One of Aloysius Pendergast's most implacable enemies has arrived on his doorstep as a corpse. His death bears all the hallmarks of the perfect murder, save for one enigmatic clue: a piece of turquoise lodged in the dead man's stomach. That single piece of evidence will lead Pendergast from an abandoned mine, to a desolate sea, and then deep into his own family's sinister past. As ancient secrets begin to resurface, Pendergast must escape a subtle killer bent on revenge...