Private Investigator Teàrlach Paterson

Longlisted for the McIlvanney Scottish Crime Book of the Year

A mother calls for her child repeatedly in the soft summer air, her voice rising with panic. She leans over the glass balustrade, her eyes searching the dark waters of the loch. Her only child is gone.

The disappearance of a three-year-old girl from her isolated home in the Scottish Highlands shook the nation. Three years later, the world may have forgotten the blond-haired girl with the big blue eyes, but her grief-stricken parents hire Private Investigator Teàrlach Paterson–an expert in finding missing children–to bring their precious Lily home.

Working round the clock, Teàrlach quickly uncovers secrets beneath the surface of the close-knit local community. The Masterton's nanny, fired after Lily's disappearance, is missing, and local outcast Annie could hold the key to solving the case. And then a body is found at local landmark, Hell’s Glen.

As Teàrlach pieces together the secrets at the heart of the Masterton family, tiny bones are found in the loch close to the Masterton’s home. Could they be Lily’s? Or will Teàrlach unravel a truth even more shocking?

A twisty, atmospheric, and utterly compelling thriller set within the breath-taking Highland landscape from a CWA New Blood Dagger Longlist author and McIlvanney Best Scottish Crime Novel Finalist. Fans of LJ Ross, Ann Cleeves, and Val McDermid will be hooked by The Girl in the Loch.