Tina Rossi, the world’s leading coloratura soprano has travelled to Edinburgh, ostensibly to sing in the Festival, but in reality to meet her lover, top scientist Kenneth Holmes. Instead of finding Kenneth at their rendezvous, she discovers an unknown corpse. At this moment Johnson Johnson, a famous but enigmatic portrait painter turns up. Dolly is about to sail in a race to the Hebrides where Holmes was conducting his top-secret research to discover more about his disappearance. Soon they are sailing the high seas together, but as Dolly nears Rum, the race becomes one for life rather than prize money… AUTHOR: Dorothy Dunnett gained an international reputation as a writer of historical fiction before turning to crime writing. She was a board member of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and in 1992 she was awarded an OBE for her services to literature. She died in 2001.