From the author of Shetland and Vera

The honeymoon was over . . . and Jim and his English bride, Sarah, had come home to Kinness to settle down. But first there was to be one huge celebration for the newlyweds, with the whole island present. And before the party was over, there would be a shockingly unexpected death. Somehow, in the dark of the night, Jim’s young sister, Mary, slipped off Ellie’s Head to the rocks below. A terrible end to a boisterously cheerful evening.

But did Mary fall, or was she pushed? George Palmer-Jones, retired birdwatcher and amateur detective, suspected the latter, but proving it would be difficult: no one wanted to upset the balance of the island’s ancient relationships.

Yet those with something to hide inevitably try to hide it, and George, helped by Sarah, began to piece together a tragic story he wished he had never heard. Kinness was a paradise lost.