An Edinburgh police detective is summoned to the island of Malta, in this gripping and atmospheric murder mystery set in the Victorian era.

It is the summer of 1880, and DI Sam McQueen has been called away from the grey, damp streets of Edinburgh to investigate a case on the oppressively hot Mediterranean island of Malta. The local police chief is distinctly unwelcoming toward the interloper-but has no choice in the matter since Admiral Collingwood's wealthy widow insists that her husband's fatal fall from the roof of their villa was no accident.

Fortunately, McQueen gets help from a police physician and the resourceful daughter of a newspaper editor-support he will need as he tangles with local aristocrats unearths secrets and conspiracies, and is faced with more suspicious deaths that may or may not be connected to the late admiral . . .