DI Hunter Wilson, of the Edinburgh police force, iis called to the home of crime scene investigator George Reinbold, who has been murdered. He was shot in the forehead once, and killed instantly, to be found not long after by a young woman delivering a package he'd ordered.

He quickly finds that George had unusually strong security for his home, which is only partly explained by insurance requirements for the valuable collection of first edition children's books his friends and colleagues also didn't know he had. Investigating George's murder is going to mean investigating George, both his present, and his past, in East Germany, which he left when he was eighteen.

Meanwhile, there's also a new supply of high-quality cocaine coming into Scotland from Peru, and the two cases don't remain separate for long. A dealer in high-end cars, now in jail for bank robbery, the drug dealer who used the car dealer's business as a distribution point, and the corrupt former head of the Edinburgh police force and father of Hunter's second, are all locked up in the same prison. This proves useful.

Two of them have some motive to cooperate, if approached the right way.

It's a tangled and fascinating case, and yet meanwhile, life goes on. DCs Jane and Rachel are getting married. Hunter is worried about his son, Cameron, who has checked himself out of rehab and taken a job that seems a little too convenient. DC Meyerscough, son of the corrupt former Chief Constable who is now in prison, is unhappy about reminders of his father, and sees no point in being rich if he can't use some of that money to quietly make the lives around him a little easier.

And I haven't even touched on how tangled the relationships among various people connected to the case(s) are.

It's a compelling, absorbing story, with excellent, well-developed characters.

Recommended.

I received a free electronic galley of this book from the publisher and am reviewing it voluntarily. ( )