A dead man’s secret. A government that kills to keep it. And a PI who won’t let go.

When PI Callie Munro finds her tech specialist murdered inside his fortress-like Edinburgh flat, she knows the killing wasn’t random. He let his killer in.

What he left behind is far more dangerous: surveillance footage of a hit-and-run that official records insist never happened. As Callie digs deeper, witnesses begin to vanish. She suspects that a covert government operation is monitoring civilians and silencing anyone who gets too close.

With police stonewalled and a hunter closing in, Callie has no one to trust but herself. And as the conspiracy tightens around her, questions about her own past resurface—questions she has spent a lifetime trying to bury.

It’s a simple equation. Expose the conspiracy…or disappear with it.

Tariq is a solicitor and co-host of the writing podcast Page One. His debut novel, Welcome to Cooper, won the Bloody Scotland Debut Award 2022, as well as being shortlisted for both the CWA John Creasey (New Blood) Dagger and the Capital Crime Fingerprint Award. His second novel, Follow Me to the Edge, was published in 2022. His third novel, The Midnight King, was published by Viper in 2025 and won the McIlvanney Prize 2025 for best Scottish crime book of the year. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife, two sons and dog, Scout.