The year is 1942. World War II is in full swing in the Atlantic. The Caribbean islands form an arc of lookout posts arrayed against an unseen enemy. From here Great Britain and the United States spy the waves for German U-boats attempting a stealthy approach to the Panama Canal, the Gulf of Mexico and the strategic ports of South and Central America. Far from the deadly fray out in the mid Atlantic, life could have gone on as usual in the British colony of Trinidad. But this cosmopolitan island has become a crucial lookout, now manned by thousands of American servicemen. And as the days grow hotter and the nights grow longer lying in wait for those Nazi ships, restlessness turns to mischief, and mischief turns to murder.
Bonham Mars is determined to ride out this war, and the American "social invasion," as uneventfully as possible. After all, he has problems of his own. But when a neighbour goes missing and it seems he is the only one that can find her, he soon finds himself in the midst of a notorious industry that has blossomed around the mighty "Yankee Dollar." He also finds himself on a collision course with a killer and a long line of uniformed, and un-uniformed, personnel determined to end his amateur investigation.