The Raven's Cry

A Scottish Highlands Murder Mystery

He protected wildlife. They protected criminals. Only one survived.**

Andrew Mackintosh was a conservation officer investigating wildlife crime in the Cairngorms. Poisoned raptors. Illegal trapping. Protected species are systematically destroyed to benefit shooting estates. He documented everything, built cases against powerful landowners, and refused bribes and threats.

They shot him in a remote forest and left him for the ravens.

Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lynch—recently promoted but still fighting for respect—takes the case. What starts as investigating a murdered conservation officer becomes exposing an organised crime network that's operated across Highland estates for thirty years. Landowners. Gamekeepers. Wealthy businessmen. All conspiring to eliminate protected species and silence anyone who interferes.

The network is sophisticated. The criminals are powerful. The evidence is difficult to find and harder to protect. And Sarah's own superior—DCI Duncan Reid—is actively sabotaging the investigation because he's been part of the network all along.

As Sarah closes in on the conspiracy, an assassin is sent to eliminate her. She survives only because mountain rescue coordinator Callum Fraser—now her partner—intercepts the attack. The choice becomes clear: expose corruption that reaches into Police Scotland's leadership, or accept that some criminals are too powerful to prosecute.

Sarah Lynch doesn't accept that anyone is beyond the reach of justice.

This investigation will force her to decide: take a promotion that moves her back to Glasgow, or stay in Fort William where she's built a life, found love, and learned that remote doesn't mean invisible. Where exile became home. Where Highland justice became her purpose.

A powerful thriller about environmental crime, organised conspiracy, and choosing home over career.

Book 5 in the Detective Sarah Lynch Mysteries—where protecting wildlife becomes protecting communities.