Festival season, the streets filled to bursting with tourists and Edinburgh is gripped in a stifling heatwave. Not the best time for one of the most violent murders the city has witnessed in years.
The victim cannot be identified and the brutal nature of the killing shocks both public and the police. What could possibly have inflicted such gruesome injuries: is it a wild animal on the loose, or the start of some horrific gangland war?
Another body is found on Musselburgh Beach: naked, comatose . . . but this time alive. DI Tony McLean can't shake the feeling that there is a connection to the killing - but there are few leads for him and the team to go by.
The police are at a loss, and the city is on edge - will the killer strike again?
Praise for James Oswald:
'The new Ian Rankin' Daily Record
'Creepy, gritty and gruesome' Sunday Mirror
'Oswald's writing is in a class above most' Daily Express
