The heat is on for Bob Skinner, Scotland’s most revered, and in some circles, most feared cop. His career hangs by a thread, as a recent illness gives his enemies a weapon to use against
him. A body found in the detritus of a flood is identified as the hated brother whose existence Skinner has kept hidden for years. On the crime front, an incendiary device destroys a
valuable painting in Edinburgh’s Royal Scottish Academy. As Skinner and his team tackle these crises, his wife Sarah—left in America with their children, to recover from the tragic death of
her parents—finds comfort with an old college lover. When fate leaves her staring at a seemingly inevitable murder conviction, Skinner will need all his fearsome resources to sort out the
tangled mess of his life. But is he still up to the challenge?