Aline Templeton

It is a bitterly cold night, with rain falling and an edge of snow. Under the sickly yellow lighting in the lorry park, three men are looting precious cargo from the tarpaulined trailers - but the crack of a gunshot pierces the night, and everything changes. Six months on and a key witness at the subsequent murder trial finds herself under police protection in the remote ancient highlands around Loch Torridon. She is determined to find out what happened to her beloved Callan, one of the three looters, but everything becomes more complicated by another local murder, and the arrival of DCI Kelso Strang. The local dramatic peaks form the uncompromising backdrop of the police investigation, and Strang must contend with seismic events that will change many lives to get to the truth.

There''s something sinister about Drumdalloch Woods in the Black Isle near Inverness. It is a place of tangled growth and shadowy darkness, it has business opportunists, biological scientists and conflicted family members all competing for a say in its future. Then a body is found, and everything starts to look suspicious.As DCI Kelso Strang''s investigation grows more complex, he unearths layers of hatred, greed and revenge that cast doubt even on the local police force. Having only just found happiness with his new girlfriend, Cat Fleming, Strang faces an existential threat not only to his career but to his very life.