19th century Scotland. Ardnamurchan Peninsula on the west coast is inhabited by mining folk and crofters eking out a living from the unforgiving land, turning a blind eye to the smugglers who plague the coast.
Harold, Simmy’s brother, pulls a bag of bones out of the water near his home and, not long afterwards, a man is viciously attacked and left for dead. He is the assistant to Gustav Wengler, eccentric owner of the local lead mines and creator of the strange monuments known as the White Cathedral.
How can they be connected? And what is the relevance of the unusual sundial in Ockle churchyard, well known to both Harold and Simmy?
Smugglers and sundial; a Floating Chapel and a foreigner heading their way from Denmark.
Someone needs to find out what it’s all about before more lives, including Simmy’s and Harold’s, are torn apart.
Gray’s richly researched historical crime series will keep readers gripped to the very last page.
Tabla de materias
Chapter Headings
Beginnings
Light beyond the sea
Horse thieves and flag breakers
Ockle, and the other side of things
A swan amongst islands
Simmy, and the recompense of the dead
Getting there, even if it’s not where you want to go
Missing minerals, missing men
Burned down bothies, ripped down flags
Wicker coffins, floating chapels
Consecrated boards on unconsecrated waters
Inside the snail
Strangers and sundials
Being strong, being weak
Everyone going whichways
Broken eggs, broken men
Tapping a way back to life
The lion flexes its claws
An now the riddle
The misdeeds of the dying
Like fleas on a dog
The blind and the not-so dumb
God forgets his duties, but Oswald does not
The briars that bind
Talking, and towers that might not be so impregnable
Perfect days, not so-perfect problems
Loyalty, and living up to it
Bad discoveries, better plans
Respect and retribution
From the ends of the earth
Dead men alive, and live men rowing
Limbs from limbs, skin from bone
Well, that’s one way to learn
Black slugs, white clover
Sleeping vials and venom
The Builders go on forever
The nocturnal and the night
Sheep and lambs
Hands that need to be washed
And so he cries
Tiger taiga
And everything changes, once again
Another shift in the equation
The bad dying of the almost dead
As always, another bloody book
Revelations, disappointment, and generosity
Decisions
Narrow tracks, wide worlds
Historical Note