The unflappable Inspector George Gently has become a household name through the hit BBC TV series starring Martin Shaw. These are the original books on which the TV series was based, although the George Gently in Alan Hunter's whodunits is somewhat different to his TV counterpart. He is more calculating, more analytical, and his investigations are even more enthralling. In this title: Gently sets out for the north of Scotland to help clear one of his oldest friends of a murder charge and reunite him with the woman he loves. A love story founders on the rocks of the wild coastline of western Scotland when a man falls to his death. Did he fall or was he pushed? The knife wounds on his body tend to suggest the latter. Although he knows his rank gives him no status in Scotland, Gently travels north to help out, the prime suspect being a close friend. Despite the fact that the evidence weighs heavily against him, Gently cannot bring himself to believe that his friend committed murder, even if the victim was a hated love rival.

He must use all of his skill as a detective to find a way to prove his friend's innocence. Highland hospitality, however, doesn't always extend to cooperating with a murder investigation.