A journalist is summoned to investigate a seaside death initially treated as an accident after a woman falls from cliffs at Ludmouth Bay, and his arrival sets off a sequence of amateur sleuthing alongside formal police inquiry. The narrative follows interviews, oddball suspects, and a series of clues—including a discovered shoe, poisons, and unexpected personal connections—while alternating moments of comic sidelight with nocturnal expeditions and procedural restraint. Tensions between private initiative and official method drive the investigation, leading to arrests and the unmasking of the plot behind the death as the sleuth pieces together motive and opportunity.