This sequel to the classic EIGHT COUSINS appears in paper to provide new readers with the story of Rose's interactions with her eight cousins. Here her return from a trip around the world brings a newfound young lady to her cousins' attention.
Peter Harris, a dispirited Soho gallery owner in his midforties, arrives home to find his wife in the shower and marvels at how lithe she looks through the steam, then realizes that he’s admiring her much younger brother. Called the Mistake, or Mizzy, he’s a lost soul, a junkie and moocher as sexy as he is manipulative. Mizzy appears just as Peter, brooding, romantic, and self-deprecating, is grappling with his failings as a father and an art dealer.
On the remote Hebridean island of Runa, a grisly discovery awaits the arrival of forensic anthropologist Dr. David Hunter. A body - almost totally incinerated but for the feet and a single hand - has been found. The local police are quick to record an accidental death but Hunter's instincts say otherwise: he's convinced it's murder. In fact Runa is far from the peaceful community it first appears - and a burned corpse is only one of its dark secrets.
Then an Atlantic storm descends, severing all power and contact with the mainland. And as the storm rages, the killing begins in earnest...
Who is responsible for the strange messages that keep turning up up for Mr Goon? Are Mr and Mrs Smith involved and does Mrs Hicks know more than she appears to? Fatty and the gang are determined to find out.
When Susan's ex-husband, Brad, appears after a decades-long absence, nearly broke and the object of a sexual-harassment suit, Spenser reluctantly agrees to help. As he investigates the circumstances surrounding the suit, he discovers that fund-raiser Brad is swimming in very deep water: mobsters, who were using his fund-raising campaigns to launder money, have discovered he was cooking the already cooked books and aren't at all pleased. The deeper Spenser digs, the more bodies he uncovers and the more culpable Brad appears to be.
