Combe Island off the Cornish coast has a blood-stained history of piracy, but now, privately owned, it offers respite to overstressed people in positions of high authority who require privacy and guaranteed security. But this peace is violated when one of the distinguished (but thoroughly unlikable) visitors is found hanging from the railing of the lighthouse. Suicide was briefly suspected but it soon becomes apparent that he was murdered.
Commander Adam Dalgliesh is called in to solve the mystery, but at a difficult time for him and his depleted team. While he is uncertain about his future with Emma Lavenham, Detective Inspector Kate Miskin has her own emotional problems, and Sergeant Francis Benton-Smith is worried about proving himself. As they try to unravel the complicated motives of the multiple suspects, there is a second very brutal killing; and the whole investigation is jeopardized when Dalgliesh contracts SARS from one of the suspects.
The background for this spread was painted with Anita's "Silver" mixed with a small amount of "Metallic Sapphire". I was afraid that it might be difficult to write on, but I had no trouble writing out the summary with a Uniball Vision Micro pen. Despite what shows in the picture, the writing is very black and crisp. The title/author was written with a medium size Pilot Permaball. This was a new pen that I was given by Sandy Odom when I went last month to Austin to teach a class on making backgrounds. It writes permanently on all surfaces, and is acid-free, waterproof, fadeproof and smear-proof. When I heard that, I figured it was the thing to try on this shiny metallic surface. It wrote easily and dried quickly. Nothing came up when I cautiously wiped my finger over it. If it only came in a smaller point, I would be in love!
You can barely see it here, but the crossbars of the "H"s and the "A" are colored in with various colors of RoseArt gel pens for a bit of pizazz.
