Harriet Bennett retires from her deputy director position at the CIA. She moves to Charleston, South Carolina and accepts a teaching position at The Citadel. Bennett is an avid kayaker and her bloated, crab ravaged body is discovered floating in the Ashley River. Local police believe that it was an unfortunate boating accident as her kayak is found a short distance away. The CIA calls in Stick LeMaster to investigate, just to be sure, as Bennett was "The Company's" go-to person on all matters pertaining to South America and the Caribbean. He arrives in Charleston and meets with police and security officials at the school. He doesn't automatically accept that a skilled boater like Harriet died in a simple boating accident. He knew that Harriet was experienced in white water Kayaking and the Ashley was not white water. After just a few days of sleuthing he determined that Harriet was murdered. Now his job is to find out who murdered her and why. Could the murderer be Harriet's roommate, beautiful Charleston belle, Prissy St. Martin Snipes? Perhaps Prissy's father, the gruff, blustery Gumpy St. Martin Snipes, a local attorney. Brown leads the reader on an interesting chase down Charleston's cobblestone streets and into the beautiful gardens of the historic district. Along the way he lets the reader sample some of Charleston's most famous dish--She Crab soup. The reader is brought along skillfully as Brown introduces several interesting characters each of whom could be Harriet's killer. Naturally LeMaster solves the mystery but it is a surprise....a big surprise.