**The gripping new thriller in the Sunday Times-bestselling phenomenon that is the Inspector McLean series, from one of Scotland's most celebrated crime writers

A macabre ancient artefact. An innovative biotech company connected to the highest levels of government. And the trail of bloodshed in its wake.**

Detective Chief Inspector Tony McLean is called to investigate a break-in at Drake BioTech, a trendsetting Edinburgh start-up. It's well below McLean's pay grade, but given the extensive political connections of its eccentric owner Nathaniel Drake, he doesn't have a choice. Even if nothing appears to have been stolen.

A missing person case turns complicated for DI Janie Harrison when a body is found half-buried in woods outside the city. The missing man shows no signs of trauma, the cause of his death a mystery. But when another man - linked to the break-in - is discovered dead in similarly mysterious circumstances, the police suspect there may be some connection between the two.

McLean is convinced the answer lies with the strange ancient artefact clutched in the second dead man's hands. But when the two bodies are stolen from the mortuary, and the artefact goes missing from evidence, the race is on to prevent yet more death.

Praise for James Oswald:

'The new Ian Rankin' Daily Record

'Creepy, gritty and gruesome' Sunday Mirror

'Crime fiction's next big thing' Sunday Telegraph