A lethal crime of passion darkens the mists of Scotland's legendary Highlands

Newly appointed Detective Inspector Gemma James has never questioned her friend Hazel Cavendish about her past. So it is quite a shock when Gemma learns that their holiday retreat to the Scottish Highlands is, in fact, Hazel's homecoming?and that fellow hotel guest Donald Brodie was once Hazel's lover, despite a vicious, long-standing feud between their rival fine-whiskey-distilling families. And the fires of a fierce and passionate affair may not have burned out completely?on Brodie's part, at least, since he's prepared to destroy Hazel's marriage to win her back.

But when a sudden, brutal murder unleashes a slew of dark secrets and long- seething hatreds, putting Hazel's life in peril, Gemma knows she will need help unraveling this very bloody knot?and calls on the one man she trusts more than any other, Scotland Yard Superintendent Duncan Kincaid, to join her far from home . . . and in harm's way.