Quote:There's a dangerous killer lurking by this loch, and only canny Cressida can track them down.

Scotland, June 1925. Socialite Cressida Fawcett has been invited to cast her interior design eye over the Stirling family's new seat, Ayrton Castle, up in the Scottish Highlands. Thrilled to be spending the summer at the historic estate, Cressida fills her suitcase with this season's hunting jackets-and some tartan for her little pug Ruby, of course!

But before the party is ready to tramp through the glens, shocking news puts paid to their plans. Hamish Glenkirk, former owner of Ayrton, has been found dead inside a turret room of the castle. The door was bolted from the inside, and the room is three stories up, surrounded by impenetrable stone walls. How did the murderer get in? And out?

With Detective Andrews of Scotland Yard at least a day's journey away, Cressida knows she needs to get to the bottom of this case-and fast. There's no end of suspects among the hunting party. Could it be the local doctor whose wife left him for a fling with the now-dead laird? Or is the gamekeeper hiding secrets under his kilt?

Just as Cressida is closing in on the truth, a blood-curdling scream echoes through the mist. Another member of the party, and one of the suspects, has been shot. With a wee dram in hand, can Cressida find the killer before the bagpipes play for another victim?