The killing is an expert hit: three shots through the head as the lights dim at a celebrity concert in Glasgow. A most public crime, and Edinburgh Chief Constable Bob Skinner is right in the centre of the storm as it breaks over the Strathclyde force. The shooters are dead too - killed at the scene. But who sent them? The crisis finds Skinner, his private life shattered by the abrupt end of his marriage, taking a step that he had sworn he never would. Tasked by Scotland's first minister with the investigation of the outrage, he finds himself quickly uncovering some very murky deeds ... and a fourth body, whose identity only adds to the confusion. Can the chief solve the most challenging mystery of his career, or will failure end it?