A murder has occurred on Mars, and Earth has dispatched an agent to investigate the death immediately. Immediately is a relative term because the trip from Earth to Mars is a journey of more than eight months.
By the time Mason Turner arrives on Mars, most of the evidence has either been lost or destroyed, and the colonists refuse to cooperate with the investigation. There are secrets on the red planet. Unraveling those secrets could be the destruction of the most vulnerable members of the colony.