Previously published as Deadfallin 2024 and Cradle to Grave in 2010

On the remote Black Isle, the ancient Drumdalloch Woods rise dark and forbidding above the Moray Firth, a brooding wilderness where the wind whispers through centuries-old oaks.

For generations, the Forsyth family have owned Drumdalloch House and the vast woods that surround it. The land is sacred to ageing landowner Giles Forsyth — a living legacy to be protected for generations.

His children see things differently. His son wants to sell, his daughter doesn’t want the responsibility. So Giles resolves to leave Drumdalloch to his daughter-in-law, Helena.

But his plans are ruined when Helena is found lying dead beneath a great oak, a deep wound to her head. Her death is dismissed as a tragic accident.

Three years later, the estate is crumbling, debts are mounting, and the Forsyth family is close to breaking point.

When Perry Forsyth, Helena’s husband, is also found dead — his body floating in a woodland pond — it seems like another unfortunate accident.

DCI Kelso Strang doesn’t believe in coincidence. He heads north to the Black Isle in search of answers — only to find a family poisoned by jealousy and guilt, and a remote community where everyone knows what happened in the woods, but no one dares speak of it . . .