The killing was an expert hit. Three shots through the head, as the lights dimmed at a celebrity concert in Glasgow. A most public crime, and Edinburgh Chief Constable Bob Skinner is right in the centre of the storm, as it breaks over the Strathclyde force. The shooters are dead too, killed at the scene. But who sent them? The crisis finds Skinner, his private life shattered by the shocking end of his marriage, taking a step that he had sworn he never would. Tasked by Scotland's First Minister with the investigation of the outrage, he finds himself quickly uncovering some very murky deeds... The trail leads to London, where national issues compromise the hunt.