Lesley Mackie

Isabel Dalhousie, philosopher and amateur problem solver, meets an old foe, Minty Auchterlonie, at a birthday party attended by their young children. Ambitious Minty, now the head of a small investment bank, is in trouble with her shareholders.

The continuing adventures of Isabel Dalhousie, Edinburgh philosopher and curious observer of the behaviour of her fellow man.

An unexpected appeal for help from a collector who has been the victim of an art theft threatens to take Isabel Dalhousie far outside her comfort zone. Originally published: London: Little, Brown, 2012

1935, Edinburgh. Lindy Gillian is determined to look on the bright side in spite of the Depression. She works for her stepmother at Murchie's Provisions and has the attentions of Neil, a young writer whom she has known for years. But when handsome Roderick Connor walks into the shop one day, Lindy's world is turned upside down.

Although the apparent victim of a crime of unparalleled brutality, the skeleton seems to belong firmly in the past. Detective Inspector Marjory Fleming, called in to investigate, anticipates a straightforward case unhampered by the pressures of time. But when a modern watch is discovered on the skeleton's wrist, Fleming realises the crime may be far closer to home than she initially assumed. Meanwhile, in the nearby village of Innellan, mysterious...