Gold Coast

Larh Thomas is asked to review a project based in Bristol to return a Victorian steam boat that has been found nearly intact on a mudbank on the Volta river in Ghana. The project has been attracting adverse publicity by local radical elements, partly because its leader 'Captain' John Hastings's stubborn attitude. The council is planning to stop funding the project.However, soon after she arrives, Larh is present when a member of the project team, Jane Goodhaul, is attacked in the street, and the video of this attack gains worldwide attention. As a result the project gets a huge investment from an international digital company whose Ghanaian CEO is interested in getting into local politics. The team go out to the Volta river, living on the company's luxury yacht, while they attempt to float the steamer. However, it soon becomes clear that the steamer has a complicated history. It was originally in the river because the captain had been transporting soldiers upriver to flank an enemy of the British, the Ashanti tribe. He intended to smuggle back gold and artifacts from a raid on the tribe's capital. On board the ship, after it is recovered, the team also discovers a secret chamber in the hold, and two barrels containing the bodies of the first mate and an African woman.They decide not to tell the authorities in Accra about the bodies, because of some funding issues, and the steamer is towed back to Bristol. However the ship runs into difficulty in a storm off the Bay of Biscay, and Jane Goodhaul dies of a head injury. Larh belatedly realises that Jane had been in a relationship with John Hastings. On return to Bristol, John is arrested for her murder, although he is subsequently released. As a result, local feelings against Hastings are still running high and the steamer is attacked several times by groups of protestors on Bristol Docks. In the fire and confusion of the final attack, Hastings is stabbed and later dies.