This is the story of a retired detective named John Clarke, who is from the Southern California area and retires to what he thinks is a quiet and peaceful spot on the shores of Northern California, only to find, one day while walking on the beach, the body of a young Chinese girl floating in the surf. Her clothing doesn't seem to match the surroundings; she has the clothing of a peasant from China and no form of identification and some very nasty-looking bruise marks on her neck. The story goes from the quiet little backwater community of Salmon Fork on the coast in Northern California, to...