In the Bleak Midwinter

In the beach town of Oceanic Park, the holiday season turns deadly.

On a bitterly cold morning, the body of a reporter with a troubled past is found on the deserted beach underneath an amusement pier.  In spite of his misgivings, small-town attorney Ned Johnston agrees to investigate the reporter's death.  With little more to go on than a cryptic series of letters and numbers on a page torn from a notepad, Johnston begins to uncover a shadowy and far-reaching criminal conspiracy.

Meanwhile, Johnston is confronted by a series of strangers demanding to know the whereabouts of the elusive and mysterious investigator, Sophia Ambrosetti.  Johnston soon finds himself being drawn into one of Ambrosetti's dubious undertakings - an attempt to obtain a cache of stolen information from a cagey and desperate source.  It quickly becomes apparent that other parties also are on the trail of the stolen information.

Amidst the holiday festivities in Oceanic Park, the death toll increases as shadowy forces act with ruthless efficiency to eliminate anyone who poses a threat to them.  As the pace of events accelerates, Johnston struggles to expose the hidden forces at work in Oceanic Park before he becomes their next victim.