The Blood Is Still

Of course, a body in full Highland dress, left on Culloden battlefield with a claymore through his chest, draws the attention of the media. Rebecca Connolly, an investigative reporter for the Chronicle in Inverness, Scotland, covers that story, asking questions of a historian who refuses to talk to the police. She’s also covering a protest in the Ferrys, led by Mo Burke, a reputed drug dealer, and her two sons, Nolan and Scott. Why would Mo call attention to her criminal family by heading up a demonstration against a pedophile moving into the complex? Mo loses the crowd’s attention when Finbar Dalgliesh, a lawyer running for office, shows up. The ultra-right-wing politician heads up the Spioraid group but refuses to condemn New Dawn, a possible terrorist arm of his movement. A second body, again in costume, might link the two stories, but Rebecca’s new corporate bosses only want content, not true investigative reporting. Unusual murders, a crime family, right-wing politics, and violence highlight this intricately plotted thriller.