The Goldenacre

"Thomas Tallis, inspector of provenance, has just arrived in Edinburgh to authenticate The Goldenacre, a masterpiece by iconic Scottish architect and painter Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Now that the noble family that has owned The Goldenacre since the 1920s is giving it to the government of Scotland in exchange for a tax break, Tallis just has to confirm that the painting is the real thing. Still dealing with a miserable divorce and the fall-out from a disastrous job in London, Tallis is eager to sign off on the painting and return home. But then a gruesome parcel arrives on Tallis's desk, seemingly threatening him against investigating the painting, and Tallis begins to suspect that there is nothing simple about this job at all. Meanwhile, seemingly unrelated murders are besieging Edinburgh. First, a Scottish painter of great renown. Next, an Edinburgh City Councilor. Bitter, exhausted newspaper reporter Shona Sandison is on the case. Not bound by traditional rules of propriety in her investigation, Shona is ready to play dirty to get the best story she can, regardless of if it's true. When Shona finds herself in the sights of the mysterious forces that seem to be behind the murders, she and Tallis must work to understand how The Goldenacre is mixed up in all of this violence before either one of them becomes the next victim-even though it seems Tallis is already doomed. Pensive, lush, and tragically human, The Goldenacre is journalist and poet Philip Miller's heartbroken love letter to Edinburgh, and an unpredictable, gorgeously plotted mystery to savor"--