The Secret Portrait: A Jean Fairbairn/ Alasdair Cameron Mystery (Five Star First Edition Mystery Series) - Hardcover

Carl, Lillian Stewart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1594143072 ISBN 13: 9781594143076

Publisher: Five Star Trade, 2005

Synopsis

Fleeing an academic scandal and a broken marriage, Jean Fairbairn has come to Scotland to work for an Edinburgh-based history and travel magazine. Writing about the Scottish national pastime of playing illusion off reality is just the quiet, scholarly pursuit she needs to soothe her burned-out emotions.

But when Jean heads for the Highlands to investigate the 18th century mystery of Bonnie Prince Charlie's lost treasure, she finds herself involved in a contemporary murder case--and not as an innocent bystander, either.

Alasdair Cameron, the police detective in charge, has his own perspective on reality and illusion. The American dot-com millionaire living out his tartan fantasies in a restored mansion is the loosest of loose cannons. His trophy wife isn't necessarily standing by her man. Their housekeeper knows what's going to happen before it does. And their youth piper is a kilted daydream, even though his parents are nightmares.

At Glendessary House, old wounds and old glories aren't distant memories evoked over a glass of single-malt, to the skirl of the pipes. Here, they are up close, personal, and deadly.

It's a good thing Jean has back-up in Edinburgh. Because if butting heads--not to mention hearts--with Cameron isn't enough to do her in, then a killer is waiting and watching, with a motive for murder not hidden nearly deeply enough in the past.

About this title

Synopsis:

Death in the Highlands. It came by claymore and cannon fire in 1745, when Bonnie Prince Charlie's men died at Culloden and the last Stuart fled back to France, leaving his followers to death and his gold hidden in the heather for others to find. After a thousand years of bloody history, death in the Highlands is nothing new. But it should not be happening now. Jean Fairbairn has a coin from Prince Charlie's hoard, and a story. Until the story comes to murder, and Jean isn't just a reporter: she's a prime suspect. Nose to nose with Chief Inspector Alasdair Cameron and self-proclaimed Charles expert Rick MacLyon, Jean finds herself entangled in a story that's getting grimmer than the Dark Mile by Loch Arkaig and more twisted than Stuart politics. And it's all too likely to end with Jean trapped by a murderer, on her way to becoming the MacLyon manison's newest ghost.

About this edition

• Publisher: Five Star Trade
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1594143072
• ISBN 13: 9781594143076
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 398