Maverick ex-cop Quint Dalrymple returns to investigate a series of gruesome murders in a near-future independent Edinburgh, in 2033. The Council of City Guardians has been forced to relax its grip on citizens and the borders are no longer secure. Then a human heart is found on a football pitch. Quint Dalrymple is called in, just as a citizen's headless body floats down a canal. He uncovers a link to the planned referendum over Edinburgh joining a reconstituted Scotland. But who is behind the killings? Quint must dig deep to save the Council from collapse, and to retain both his head and heart...
