When Private Investigator Cooper Malone's best friend, Heather, comes back from a party cruise on the Mardis Gras Rio, she is convinced that someone was killed at sea and the company is covering it up. Coop takes the case, knowing it won't be easy. He has no body, no evidence of a crime, and too many suspects-not to mention that his crime scene is out at sea.

Sifting through a web of half-truths and odd characters, with the police snooping around his case and the cruise company refusing to cooperate, Coop must cross a few lines to keep his promise to his friend and himself. Something shady is going on aboard the Rio, something that reaches far beyond the case he was hired to solve. He just doesn't know what yet-and what he doesn't know could end up killing him.