Gerne nimmt Inspektor Gemma James den Vorschlag ihrer Freundin Hazel auf, für ein paar Tage in die Highlands zu fahren. Doch aus dem erholsamen Urlaub wird nichts, denn durch einen unglücklichen Zufall steht Hazel bald unter Mordverdacht und Gemma am Anfang einer schwierigen Ermittlung.
Newly appointed Detective Inspector Gemma James has never thought to question her friend Hazel Cavendish about her past. So it is quite a shock when Gemma learns that their holiday retreat to a hotel in the Scottish Highlands is, in fact, Hazel's homecoming -- and that fellow 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 back his "Juliet." But when a sudden, brutal murder unleashes a slew of sinister secrets and long-seething hatreds, putting Hazel's life in peril, Gemma knows she will need help unraveling this very bloody knot -- and calls for the one man she trusts more than any other, Duncan Kincaid, to join her far from home ... and in harm's way.
