A house party among Anglos near the coast in Provence. There is a fire: a handful of decadents die. Who dun it? Cui bono? One survivor, half-burnt, goes in quest for answers along the Riviera, from St Tropez to Santa Margherita Ligure and back. Encountering yachties, a wealthy designer, an actress, would-be gangsters, twin young men, an old salt and others half-reflecting his past, he moves towards a future where no motive is sure; where the hard-boiled ethics of his American father's generation are being eclipsed by older, more ambiguous instincts. A subtle homage to the most famous writer...