The 2014 referendum is history, but it’s a time of drama for Edinburgh and the ancient land of Lothian. A metal detector hobbyist is murdered just as he strikes gold. The discovery of cryptic writings sheds new light on a celebrated 19th-century Edinburgh family. A ruthless businesswoman exploits council corruption. Controversially, huge volumes of water are to be pumped to southern England. A violent ultra-nationalist cell plots mayhem in the wake of Scotland’s ‘no’ to independence. Like scotch and water, these apparently unconnected goings-on make a potent mix: a web of political, criminal and terrorist intrigue linked to a mysterious relic of some of Lothian’s earliest incomers. The second of the Incomers novels.