Johns uses this fact as an excuse to reassign Sam to more tedious tasks – tasks that may well also become relevant to both investigations.Īs well as her role in the crime plot, Sam finds herself in a romantic dilemma as her current boyfriend Paul tells her he’s transferring to Dunedin. DI Johns is soon able to annoy Sam again, as the case comes to intersect with an earlier incident in which Sam was assaulted by a looter when she tried to stop people from stealing the cargo of a ship that ran aground on Aramoana beach.

It seems likely that the victim was involved in drug dealing, but information from his associates is sparse (if the associates can even be found, that is).

The plot becomes more complicated as the identity of the body is eventually found, via some clever forensics work. Sam is delighted, though, when it turns out that the swimmer had not died naturally – as first officer on the scene, she will lead the subsequent investigation whatever her boss thinks. For this latter reason, Sam is sent as the police presence when news comes in that a body in a wet suit has washed up in the harbour. She loves her job and gets on well with her partner Malcolm Smith (“Smithy”), but suffers at the hands of the unpleasant DI Johns. Sam (Samantha) Shephard has been promoted to Detective Constable and has transferred to Dunedin’s criminal investigation bureau.

Bound vanda symon