Crime, Detective Story

The career of playwright Joy Sinclair comes to an  abrupt end on an isolated estate in the Scottish  Highlands when someone drives and eighteen-inch  dirk through her neck. Called upon to investigate the  case in a country where they have virtually no authority, aristocratic Detective Inspector Thomas  Lynley and his partner, Detective Sergeant Barbara  Havers, grapple for both a motive and a murderer.  Emotions run deep in this highly charged drama, for  the list of suspects soon includes Britain's  foremost actress, its most successful theatrical  producer, and the woman Lynley loves. He and Havers must  tread carefully through the complicated terrain of  human relationships, while they work to solve a case rooted in the darkest corners of the past and the unexplored regions of the human  heart.