Set in an unusal marine setting in a mildly dystopian world lately evacuated by humans, meet a cast of sophisticated marine life with remarkable skills and technologies. Among them is Devilly Peen, a successful author and amateur sleuth, who lives in the village of Nether Vortex, largely constructed of discarded plastic bottles.
Nether Vortex nestles in the outer spiral of the Great Pacific Gyre, where colonizing octopods have built a civilization in this giant swirl of plastic waste. With its nosy neighbours and dark secrets, the village provides Devilly Peen with much material for her crime novellas.
In this first of the Devilly Peen Murder Mystery series, when an old friend begs for help, Devilly stretches her eight arms to investigate a series of gruesome murders.