A riveting, immersive thriller from the author of Thunder Bay--"If
you don't know Skelton, now's the time" (Ian Rankin).
When a man in eighteenth-century Highland dress is found dead on the
site of the Battle of Culloden, where Bonnie Prince Charlie led his
forces to a rout seared into Scottish memory, Rebecca Connolly takes up
the case for the Chronicle. A controversial film about the rebellion
and battle is being shot nearby, and it has drawn the ire of the
right-wing nationalist movement Spirit of the Gael. Is there some link
between the murder--the weapon used to impale the man leaves no doubt it
was murder--and Spirit of the Gael or the shadowy militant group New
Dawn, thought to be associated with them?
Meanwhile, in the working-class part of town, Rebecca's assignment to
cover a protest against the placement of a convicted child molester into
the community leads her to Mo Burke, the unlikely protest leader. Mo is
a formidable woman, but she is also the matriarch of a known crime
family and usually prefers to shun the spotlight. What has drawn her
out? And what of her two grown sons, who share in the family business?
The older one, Nolan, with Ben Affleck good looks, is clearly intrigued
by Rebecca, as she is by him, despite her better instincts to steer
clear of their dangerous, violent world.
And then another body is found, this one wearing the Redcoat uniform of
the victorious British army.
