When an old man is murdered at a Scottish Highlands nature reserve, DI Jim Carruthers investigates a web of deadly secrets reaching decades into the past. While struggling to help his grieving colleague, Sergeant Andrea Fletcher, Detective Inspector Jim Carruthers is thrown into another troubling murder case. The body of an old man was discovered stabbed to death in a nature reserve—a ball of cloth rammed into the back of his throat. The only suspect is a local fifteen-year-old known for antisocial behavior. But the teenager has an alibi. When a second elderly man is murdered in the same fashion at the same locale, Carruthers suspects it's the work of a serial killer. But when revelations about the first victim send Carruthers to Iceland to interview the man's estranged son, the case becomes truly baffling. The seemingly disconnected threads of investigation include the decades-old disappearance of a twelve-year-old boy, the brutal murder of...

A murder in a remote Highlands town puts a Scottish detective on the trail of a deadly international conspiracy in this tense crime thriller. While Det. Chief Inspector Jim Carruthers and his team are busy investigating a series of art thefts, they receive an anonymous tip about the body of a young woman on a deserted beach. The bizarre clues to the woman's murder include a strange tattoo, a set of binoculars and a slab of meat left on the cliffs. The trail leads to a local shooting estate and its wealthy owner. Carruthers starts to wonder if the missing art, the dead woman, and the estate are all connected. And when the body of a young gamekeeper is pulled from the sea, Carruthers finds himself entering a sinister world of international crime and police corruption. On a case that extends far beyond Fife, Carruthers is out on a limb against powerful individuals who are ready to kill anyone who gets I their way.

Accident or Murder? When local fisherman, Robert Paterson goes missing it is assumed by DCI McTavish that the man has fallen victim to another tragic fishing accident. However, things don't add up for Inspector Jim Carruthers. Why did Paterson take his boat out at night when he would normally fish during the day? Has he taken his own life or has something more sinister taken place? Then a bloodied body shows up on the uninhabited Isle of May. Carruthers is shocked to find it is not that of the fisherman. He suspects the two events are connected. But how? A journalist who had been investigating the two cases disappears. As Carruthers tries to uncover what she discovered more questions arise. Has someone been leaking information to the press? If so, why? And, will the journalist be found alive? With the case getting more complicated and a murderer on the loose in this tight-knit coastal community, Carruthers has his work cut out.