After his wife divorcing him and his employer making him redundant, in the same year, 58-year-old Tim Jarvis' main problem, other than his depressed mood, is learning to sail his boat singlehanded. This was until his course crosses that of a blond girl on a drifting sailboard who is intent on killing herself. Not content with saving her, Tim wants to understand her problem, if only she would confide in him. The closer he gets to helping her, the more dangerous and exciting his life becomes. With the unlikely help from 12 year-old Pago and his gang of preteen hooligans, his sulphurous ex-wife and a beautiful school teacher with a shady past, he gets near to discovering the girl's secret and to getting them both killed Set in the South of France, on the Mediterranean coast and the mountainous countryside inland, Crime of Compassion is a romantic mystery novel that moves between action and humorous introspection as Tim slowly learns as much about himself as the girl's mystery.