Detective Shona Oliver

If the dead could speak, what secrets would they tell? With her daughter on an archaeological dig, the only bodies DI Shona Oliver expects to find are long dead. But when a corpse from the 1980s is unearthed, Shona quickly realises that it may be one of the missing "Girls in the Glen", victim of a notorious serial killer. Shona's superiors want her to stop looking to the past, and focus on a fresher crime scene. The attempted shooting of a local politician who likes to stoke controversy. As Shona finds herself pulled between crimes past and present, she soon realises that the secrets buried on Beild Moss are reaching into the present day. But when even her own officers are keeping things from her, who can she trust? Especially when more lives may be at stake…

There are no easy choices when the dark clouds gather DI Shona Oliver's past and present collide when James McGowan, her ex-classmate – now a famous actor – comes to the area to make a Robert Burns biopic. Shona is tasked with keeping him safe during filming on an isolated island in the Solway Firth, and her job is made much harder when a dead man wearing James's coat is found on the beach in suspicious circumstances. It seems someone wanted James out of the picture. Meanwhile, Shona has her hands full at home too; her husband is on trial for a crime he claims he did not commit, but if he speaks out he risks his wife and their teenage daughter coming to harm. Can Shona keep her head above the waves and protect those around her?

DI Shona Oliver watches in horror as her fellow officer is pronounced dead. PC Hayley Campbell drowns during a triathlon race in the Solway Firth. The postmortem reveals drugs in Hayley's system, perhaps self-administered performance enhancers. But a puncture wound in the back of her wetsuit suggests something darker. Shona makes slow progress on the case. There are other demands on her attention. The death of her old boss brings Shona under scrutiny. And the drug-related death of a teen at a festival – one which Becca is attending – has Shona on-edge. Multiple people had a reason to want Hayley dead. Can Shona keep her head above water long enough to work out which one?

How do you solve a murder when you don't have the body? A blood-soaked hammer is discovered in a lorryload of wood delivered to a local pub. DI Shona Oliver appears to have a murder weapon, but where is the victim? Then a call comes in that local forest ranger and ex-soldier John MacFarlane isn't answering his phone. There's no sign of MacFarlane at his cottage, and the only clue the team have to go on is a bloody trail in the snow which ends abruptly and leads to nowhere. A manhunt begins. It seems something from MacFarlance's past may have caught up with him. But what exactly is unclear. And Shona has her own past to contend with when someone from long ago makes an unexpected reappearance. Can she keep her head in the game?