A drug-induced suicide, misadventure, or a cleverly calculated murder? London detective Charlotte West takes on Scotland.

An employee of an investment bank is found dead in his car by a freshwater loch in Ayrshire, Scotland, but there are few signs of foul play. Indeed, that the man had enough opioid painkillers in him to fell a shire horse, might easily be put down to over-exuberant self-indulgence.

But newly promoted and in charge of the investigation, DI Charlie West wants to probe further. And when the victim’s links to a minor crime involving a dead goat and an assault on an associate come to light, a suspicious motive begins to emerge.

DI West must explore shady financial dealings in the up-market parts of Glasgow, and connections to illicit drugs in its poorer quarters, to track the killer in what is now being treated as a murder investigation.

She is relieved that her mentor, Detective James Munro, once more steps out of his not-so tranquil retirement to lend a hand. His knowledge of the rural areas will be invaluable to a wily but green officer. Plus, he can run rings around their superior officer which will help when the pressure to solve the case mounts.