Peter Sinclair is a reasonably intelligent, fairly sociable, retired business executive, a family man attempting to carry on leading a full life, travelling and seeking safe adventures as befits his years. Family holidays should be pleasant, fun-filled times. Unfortunately, although he does not seek it, trouble seems to be attracted to Peter - not the what-a-pity sort of trouble you might expect of someone of his age and experience but serious trouble which might lead to his ultimate downfall. Crisis in Croatia sees him falling foul of a paramilitary group determined to achieve independence within Croatia; in Jewels of the Canaries he gets drawn into an attempt to smuggle stolen diamonds into Spain; in The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Sea Salt he gets lost in a maze of smugglers' caves on the North Yorkshire coast; and, in Old Man of Hoy, he stumbles across an illicit Orkney whisky distillery with consequences far beyond his, and perhaps the reader's, expectations.