Grieving the sudden death of her younger cousin HOPE DOUGLAS, and plagued by terrifying dreams of hanged and burnt witches since the recent discovery of a 17th century Journal written by an exiled Scottish witch-finder who could be her ancestor, MERCY DOUGLAS is compelled by urgent and haunting messages whispered in her ear by Hope's 'duppy' during the burial, to make the journey from Jamaica to Scotland.
Determined to find out the truth about Janet Douglas and the brooch, Mercy travels across Scotland to where events took place and is astonished reading Janet's testament describing her possession of second sight and ability to shape-shift, all recounted during the early years of Scotland's links to the Atlantic Slave Trade and in an atmosphere of conflict over covenants, church, witches and the devil Joal, with his clay and wax effigies.
Subsequent banishment after making accusations across Scotland about fifteen witches and warlocks that resulted in at least ten executions, Virginia would have been Janet's destination until a storm at sea around Orkney wrecks the ship killing three hundred of her fellow convicts, all Covenanters banished after the Battle of Bothwell Brig. The few survivors are then shipped to the Jamaican plantations where Janet struggles without her usual powers and unable to prevent further witchcraft, this time of African origin, until she meets KOFI, an African slave who knows Obeah ways.
The disconcerting behaviour of Hope's mother HARRIET (BUCHANAN) in Glasgow, who introduces Mercy to persuasive 'History Detective' HENRY BOYD and their doomed attraction, soon has her suspicious of the motives of everyone around her. Between Hope's warnings and Janet's missing brooch, Mercy becomes more convinced that Hope's death wasn't a random attack and as events reach a climax there are more deaths to come.
Mercy begins to realise that JANET DOUGLAS is not the only intuitive to turn witch-finder even now in the twenty-first century. Remembering past premonitions and experiences of seeing duppies, Mercy feels she's following in Janet's footsteps especially on discovering The Congregation in Glasgow. Followed by Harriet and funded by people-trafficking and prostitution, this powerful group of devil-worshippers still bows to the manipulations of JOAL, the immortal devilish trickster who uses JOHN and ANNIE STEWART'S greed for wealth and revenge, to procure the coveted Power Brooch that they believe Mercy has in her possession.
Mercy finally returns to Jamaica for another burial, in no doubt about her ancestry.
