The Pleasure Dome — Michael James

Two young men and their partners arrive on foot one night in Newhaven, a fishing port of 2500 people. They find a no-account little town in dire distress, reeling under a combination of economic decline and the activities of the Pleasure Dome. A torment and a magnet in equal parts, the Pleasure Dome is a hostelry, restaurant, disco, casino, fantasy bar, sauna and brothel all under one roof. It has taken a while to get where it is, but now it's a fixture.At their first stop, a bar, the newcomers meet a local institution, a former barrister who coaxes them into settling on a deserted offshore island. They start renovating the ruined homes of long-gone fishing families, and are soon hooked by their new-found maritime paradise.Then things start to shake loose. The first tremor is an accident; the New Islanders find a skeleton in an unmarked grave and uncover an age-old killing. The second is fortuitous; they catch an Atlantic halibut, a symbol of the town's origins. The third sets them on a collision course with the Pleasure Dome and its owner. They rescue from the sea the ravaged body of a local girl who worked there, and it makes them local heroes.Step by step, the stakes ratchet up. It becomes clear they have to find a solution to the Dome's escalating threat, one which will shape their future and the town's.