Shortlisted for the Best Crime Fiction Award, Ned Kelly Crime Awards 2006 Tokyo Detective Aoki is devastated when influence and power undermine a major investigation. Unwilling to let go, he is sent to a remote Japanese retreat in the mountains for a vacation. His stay quickly becomes a hotbed of suspense as Aoki realizes that all the guests are harboring secrets. A sudden snowstorm traps everyone just as Aoki begins to piece together each guest's connection to an unsolved disappearance years prior.Trapped by the snow, the retreat becomes a maze of stone walls, a geisha's seduction, and bloody murders in the night. Before long, Aoki realizes that his earlier investigation and the unsolved disappearance are part of a larger scheme. Marshall Browne once again crafts an intelligent thriller with a riveting pace and spellbinding plot.