Description
From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. The baffling return of David Drummond, who vanished as a child three decades earlier, is but one of several intriguing puzzles Gil Cunningham investigates in McIntosh's excellent sixth mystery to feature the 15th-century Scottish constable (after 2008's The Rough Collier ). David was about 11 when he disappeared without a trace from Glen Buckie, but somehow he's aged only five or six years in the meantime. Cunningham must also ascertain the fates of four men, all choir members, who have recently gone missing. Some locals believe only the supernatural can explain these inexplicable events—one is sure the devil himself is behind them. Cunningham, who seeks a more mundane agency, doggedly interviews those who might be responsible for the abductions, including David's older brother, Andrew, whose singing voice has been damaged and who may resent those with uninjured voices. McIntosh does a solid job of blending plot and period detail. (July) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Husband-and-wife sleuthing team Gil and Alys Cunningham are as mystified as the local residents on the shores of Loch Voil when Davie Drummond, a young Cathedral singer who vanished more than thirty years ago, reappears, seemingly having aged but a few years. When they begin their investigations, it appears that a number of church song menxa0in the area have recently gone missing, leading the Cunninghams to believe that the past and present disappearances may somehow be related. After a fatal fire, Gil and Alys must sort through Highland suspicion and superstition to piece together the pieces of a puzzle that reaches back decades into the past. McIntosh provides a signature twist at the end that serves as an unexpected bonus for readers already enthralled with the medieval mystery she has spun. --Margaret Flanagan Praise for the Gil Cunningham series: “McIntosh provides a signature twist at the end that serves as an unexpected bonus for readers already enthralled with the medieval mystery she has spun.”— Booklist “Excellent.”— Kirkus Reviews Pat McIntosh was raised in Lanarkshire, lived in Glasgow, and now resides in the west of Scotland. Read more
Features & Highlights
- In Sir William’s remote part of Scotland it seems almost possible that a young boy could have been stolen away by the fairies and returned forty years later without having visibly aged. And if the boy isn’t Davie Drummond, who is he? Then he suffers a succession of near-fatal “accidents.” Could there be a connection with four other local singers who have vanished, one of them with political information of value to Scotland’s enemies? Gil Cunningham and his wife Alys have been sent to Perthshire to investigate.
