A local businessman disappears during a meal shared by old friends. When he is later found dead, DI Munro must cut through a densely-woven web of deceit to find out why.
The Carduccis and the Buchanans have been best of friends for years, but simmering under the surface are **long-held jealousies** and disagreements that only the **criminal affairs** of the men have kept at bay.
When, during a meal, Angus Buchanan steps out of the house to fetch a bottle of wine from the car and subsequently **disappears** , the police are quickly informed. But when the most likely explanations are ruled out, detectives Munro and West are called upon to **investigate possible foul play**.
When Buchanan is later found, having **suffered a violent death** , pathology rules out natural causes and it becomes clear that a terrible murder has occurred.
Faced with the **lack of real cooperation** from the parties involved, who are clearly protecting their nefarious business interests, the man responsible for Buchanan’s death is found relatively quickly. But when he pretty much **laughs in the face of the detectives’ accusations** , Munro and West realise that there must be much bigger fish to fry.
In an investigation that takes them as far afield as **Oslo, Norway,** and into the past of a troubled Polish man, Munro’s dream of a tranquil life in the countryside is further put on hold, and the ever ravenous Charlie West, must continue to battle the ways and mores of a **Scottish backwater** without losing her cool.