The second novel in the Cole Blackwater mystery series begins with the disillusioned, down-at-heel environmental consultant learning that his good friend and former client Archie Ravenwing is presumed dead in the shadowy depths of British Columbia's Broughton Archipelago. Days before his disappearance, Ravenwing was on the brink of unravelling a corporate conspiracy surrounding an outbreak of sea lice that could decimate the wild salmon population along the BC coastline. Now Blackwater must race against time to save an innocent life and a wild ecosystem on the brink of collapse. Inspired by his own work as an activist as well as the catastrophic real-life decline of BC's wild salmon run (currently the subject of a judicial inquiry), Stephen Legault has followed up The Cardinal Divide with a story that takes Cole Blackwater into perilous new territory, both personally and professionally.

"Legault writes with vivid imagery and knowledge. He perfectly describes the place I love most on earth. This is storytelling at its best."; -Alexandra Morton (biologist, wild salmon activist)