There's blood in the heather and a murderer on the loose when Gently pays a quite visit to the Highlands of Scotland.

Had Brenda Merryn not been such a stong-willed woman and had she not been so much in love with George Gently, driving all the way to Scotland for a holiday with Gently's sister and brother-in-law might have been a bit of a challenge. Spying on a heavily armed private army of nationalists, being held at gunpoint on the hillside, being held prisoner in a filthy outhouse and becoming involved in a murder would be unthinkable.

For Gently, it's all in a day's work and his holiday is put on hold while he stalks a murderer in the mountains, with Brenda by his side.