In a Cairns motel a young Asian woman lies in a pool of blood. Transferred to hospital, she dies before she can tell her story. Detective Cass Diamond and her team are soon on the case. Was the woman part of a sex-trafficking ring? Who brought her to Cairns? Are other women in danger? Soon it appears that many women may be missing… Could their disappearances be linked to the brutal murder of a Cairns sex worker several years earlier?

Meanwhile a group of Cairns school-girls has become involved, as one of them works evenings in the motel. Unconnected to the detectives, the girls pursue their own investigations. They meet the dead woman’s cousin, learn much about the women’s earlier lives, and discover strange activities in an otherwise unremarkable Cairns suburban house. But have they pried too far?

As these separate searches progress, the story moves to the tropical rainforest surrounding Cairns, beautiful but capable of hiding many things… What secrets does it hold, and are more women threatened there?

Set like the earlier novels in the lush splendour of Far North Queensland, the third Cass Diamond mystery explores sex trafficking and abortion, teenage emotions and adult mischief, in a story as densely branched as the rainforest itself. Caroline de Costa holds her readers in suspense till the very last pages.