A MASS FOR THE DEAD

Scotland, 1373, The Hebrides: Crispinus, the head of Oronsay Priory, is found strangled in the middle of the tidal strand separating the holy island of Oronsay from the larger island of Colonsay. The Lord of the Isles assigns the task of finding the killer to Muirteach, the Prior’s bastard son. Since breaking with his father and leaving the monastery, Muirteach has acted as scribe for his uncle, an island chieftain. Muirteach’s father, a powerful churchman, leaves behind a mistress and several other bastards as well as his embittered eldest son, who is thankful he will never hear the words, “My bastard son, the cripple” again. As Muirteach searches for the killer he is aided by the physician Fearchar Beaton and his daughter Mariota. The killer strikes again, His Lordship wants the mystery solved before the Pope and the King in Edinburgh learn of it, and Muirteach must come to terms with his own troubled relationship with his father. Muirteach’s investigation submerges him deep into a whirlpool of deceit, long buried sins, and treachery, from which no one emerges unscathed.