In Galloway, DI Marjory Fleming has a bully on her staff. DS Conrad
Mason manages to have an excuse for his actions, and promises that it
won't happen again. He's a good cop, and Fleming doesn't want to have
him disciplined. The force is going to be busy with an outbreak of foot
and mouth disease that is spreading rapidly across the UK. Fleming's
husband is a sheep farmer, and this could prove to be costly for them.
Mason's uncle and mother's herd of cattle are in the same jeopardy.
At the same time Laura Harvey is looking for her long lost sister. An
article she writes for a newspaper about her sister brings plenty of
reaction; one from a man who claims to have known her 15 years earlier.
That man is Conrad Mason's cousin, Max. However, she doesn't trust
him. Laura has become obsessed with finding her sister, so she heads
off to Scotland.
She is surprised when she runs into Max in the hotel she chooses to stay
in. There she learns that the cattle are being destroyed on the farm
belonging to Max's father who had a stroke upon learning that his cattle
were infected. Conrad is shocked when he meets Laura because she looks
so like he older half-sister who he knew when she worked on the farm.
In order to bury Mason's cattle, a pit is dug, but in doing so, a body
is found. Because the body could potentially be Conrad's aunt, Fleming
has to take him off active duty as he is a potential suspect. However,
when being routinely questioned, Laura reconises a piece of evidence
that points to the body being that of her sister! Fleming's
investigation is suddenly thrown into disarray.
Aline Templeton is a new author to me, and as I started to read this
murder mystery, I wasn't sure what I was getting into. Templeton took
two strands and neatly wove an excellent mystery together. The main
protagonist, DI Fleming, has a tough case to handle besides the rough
spot that her personal life is going through. Templeton has made her
very human. A top notch read. I'm looking forward to reading the sequel.
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