A brutal triple murder. Dark and deadly deeds in a remote northwestern crofting community in 1869 lead to the arrest of a young man by the name of Roderick Macrae. There's no question that Macrae landed the savage blows, but it falls to the country's finest legal and psychiatric minds to uncover what drove him to commit such merciless acts of violence. Was he insane? Only the persuasive powers of his advocate stand between Macrae and the inevitability of the gallows at Inverness.Will he swing for his wicked acts?
'A real box of tricks... a truly ingenious thriller as confusingly multilayered as an Escher staircase.' Jake Kerridge, Express
'A gripping crime story, a deeply imagined historical novel, and glorious writing - all in one tour-de-force of a book. Macrae Burnet is an exceptional new voice in Scottish literature.' Chris Dolan, Books of the Year, Herald
'A historical revenge tragedy and courtroom drama... [are] at the heart of this masterful psychological thriller.' Ian Stephen
Masterful, clever and playful. It is every inch the riveting second novel I had hoped for.' Louise Hutcheson, A Novel Bookblog
Author
About Graeme Macrae Burnet
Already established with a reputation for smart literary mystery writing, Graeme Macrae Burnet's first novel, The Disappearance of Adele Bedeau (Contraband, 2014), attracted fulsome critical praise and was a cult hit. He is currently working on a further two novels featuring Georges Gorski, the haunted detective in Adele Bedeau.
