Amazon.co.uk Review
When an old friend and former housemate invites Detective Inspector Gemma James to her ancestral home in Scotland for a weekend, James stumbles over a corpse and uncovers a mystery that reaches back over a century to a feud between two rival Highland clans who also happen to produce some of the world's finest Scotch whisky. There's a lot Gemma doesn't know about Hazel Cavendish, despite the years they lived together. For instance, the dead man was Hazel's lover and she's the heiress to two distilleries.
In this ninth book of the series, James's lover Detective Inspector Duncan Kincaid has the lesser role, but he manages to make his presence felt, personally if not professionally, in a subplot involving his runaway teenage son. Meanwhile, Gemma, determined to clear her friend of murder charges, makes it her business to learn who killed Donald Brodie and why. Crombie makes the craggy Highland countryside so present you can practically smell the heather, and the slight hint of magical realism that's been creeping into this series seems quite appropriate in such a mist-shrouded setting. --Jane Adams, Amazon.com
Product Description
When Detective Inspector Gemma James is persuaded by her friend, Hazel, to take a trip to the Scottish Highlands, land of mists and fine whiskey, she jumps at the chance. But Gemma soon learns that Hazel has ulterior motives, and that her friend has concealed more than one dangerous secret.