The Lamplighters

The novel is set along the Cornish coast and alternates between two timelines: the events leading up to the vanishing of three lighthouse keepers in December 1972, and an investigation 20 years later in 1992.

On a calm morning between Christmas and New Year 1972, local boatman Jory Martin sets out on a relief mission to the Maiden Rock Lighthouse, a 50-meter Victorian sea tower 15 nautical miles offshore. When the boat arrives, no one appears on the set-off, the concrete platform at the tower's base, to receive them. A search team from Trident House, the lighthouse authority, breaks in and discovers the entrance door was locked from the inside. The keepers' oilskins hang undisturbed, and the dinghy is in its place. The kitchen table is laid for a meal not eaten, with only two place settings, and two wall clocks have stopped at 8:45. There is no sign of struggle. Principal Keeper Arthur Black, Assistant Keeper Bill Walker, and Vince Bourne, an extra junior relief keeper known as a supernumerary, have simply vanished.

In 1992, adventure novelist Dan Sharp announces his intention to investigate the mystery. Helen Black, Arthur's widow, agrees to speak with him. She describes the agony of losing someone without certainty as a kind of endless falling and offers the simplest explanation: The men drowned after being caught by a sudden heavy sea on the set-off, and the entrance door slammed shut behind them. She reveals that she and Jenny Walker, Bill's wife, have been estranged since the disappearance; Helen has written Jenny letters for years, but Jenny never replies.

Jenny, still living near the Cornish coast, refuses to accept that Bill drowned. Pointing to the locked door, the stopped clocks, and the undisturbed oilskins, she insists something supernatural was responsible. She references local legends and mentions a fisherman who claimed he visited the tower the week before the disappearance and was told about an unexpected visitor, but Trident dismissed the account. Jenny expresses deep hostility toward Helen, calling her a liar.

The novel interweaves the women's testimonies with 1972 chapters told from each keeper's perspective. Arthur's narration reveals profound inner turmoil; he addresses an unnamed "you" in passages hinting at a devastating personal loss. Bill's narration reveals that his mother died giving birth to him, his father blamed him for her death and forced him into the lighthouse service, and he feels trapped in a life he never chose. He cannot swim, dreads the sea, and is obsessed with Helen. Vince, the youngest keeper, grew up in foster care and spent years in prison before finding his way to Trident House. He dreams of promotion so he can propose to his girlfriend, Michelle Davies, but harbors a dark secret and has hidden a gun under the kitchen sink, convinced that enemies from his former life might find him.

In her interviews with Dan, Helen confesses that she and Bill had a brief connection while Arthur was on the tower. Bill kissed her once; she ended things immediately, but Bill refused to accept her rejection and became obsessive, stealing personal items from her cottage, including a silver anchor necklace Arthur had given her. Jenny discovered their closeness and never forgave Helen. Jenny harbors her own secret: She confesses to her adult daughter Hannah that she put a small amount of household bleach in the chocolates she sent Bill on the tower, intending to make him sick as punishment for his infidelity. Hannah responds with compassion, and the two women grow closer.

On the tower in 1972, Arthur discovers Helen's stolen necklace in Bill's trousers, confirming the betrayal. His mental state deteriorates sharply, and he begins inscribing violent storm conditions in the weather log, describing force 10 and force 12 gales even though the weather is foggy and calm. A mysterious visitor arrives: a large, pale-haired mechanic called Sid who comes ostensibly to fix the generator, though Trident never dispatched anyone. Sid seems to know intimate details about the keepers' lives. His presence especially unsettles Vince, who connects Sid to Eddie Evans, a dangerous figure from Vince's criminal past known as "the White Rook." The next morning Sid is gone without explanation.

Michelle, now married with two daughters, eventually reveals that Vince's last letter confessed what he had been imprisoned for and warned that Eddie had infiltrated Trident House seeking revenge. Years earlier, Vince's gang went to Eddie's flat after Eddie killed Vince's best friend Reg. In the chaos, one gang member set fire to Eddie's dog and forced Eddie's young daughter to watch. Vince took the blame and served prison time. Michelle believes Eddie paid someone, possibly Sid, to reach the tower. After Vince's criminal record is leaked to the press, Trident encourages public suspicion against him. An anonymous Trident insider, however, later tells Dan that the institution concealed evidence pointing to Arthur, whose mental deterioration it refused to acknowledge publicly.

Helen discovers that Dan Sharp is actually Dan Martin, son of Jory Martin, the boatman who found the empty lighthouse. Knowing his true identity, she reveals her deepest secret: She and Arthur had a son named Tommy who drowned at age five. Arthur had left the boy paddling to fetch a camera, and the child was pulled under by currents. The death destroyed their marriage; Arthur retreated to the Maiden and never spoke Tommy's name again. Helen discloses that 8:45, the time on both stopped clocks, is the time Tommy died.

The novel's final section narrates the last days on the tower. Vince falls ill after eating the bleach-laced chocolates Jenny sent for Bill. Arthur grows increasingly unstable, hearing a child's footsteps and laughter and believing a ghostly rowing boat is approaching. On December 30, Vince is smoking on the set-off without a safety line when a sudden swell catches him. He slips, strikes his head, and is swept into the sea. Bill witnesses the drowning and throws a rope but deliberately throws it short, seeing the accident as an opportunity to pursue Helen unencumbered.

Bill strikes Arthur on the back of the head with a rock, killing him, and stages the scene to suggest Arthur's breakdown. He sets both clocks to 8:45, the time of Tommy's death that Helen once confided to him, lays the table for two, and cleans every surface. When Bill attempts to dispose of Arthur's body over the gallery rail, he hears running footsteps and a child's laughter. Something strikes him from behind, and he grabs Arthur's body in panic. The dead man's weight drags both of them over the rail into the sea. Bill, who cannot swim, drowns clinging to Arthur. In his final moments he sees a small boat with a torn sail, but the vessel takes only Arthur. The gallery door blows shut, and a white bird circles the tower before heading out to sea.

In the 1992 epilogue, Dan meets Helen at Mortehaven Cemetery, where she learns that Jory has died. Dan gives her the completed manuscript, then throws the pages into the wind and sea, telling her the truth belongs to the keepers and their families. Helen turns to find Jenny and Michelle standing together beneath a yew tree. Jenny raises her hand in greeting, and Helen raises hers in return. Helen takes a final look at the Maiden Rock and imagines Arthur climbing the tower stairs toward the lantern light.