As the tiny community of St Agnes prepares for their annual Fifth-of-November festivities they are shocked to discover a charred body on the bonfire... With a killer at large Ben Kitto the Scilly Isles Deputy Chief of Police forbids the residents from leaving the island. With a population of just eighty people everyone is a suspect and no one is safe. When threats appear written in the old Cornish language Ben suspects the killer wants to rid the island of newcomers who threaten their traditions. But with time running out he fears another fire could soon be started...

Part of the Ben Kitto series.