The second compulsive novel in the DI Lukas Mahler series set against the dark underbelly of Inverness's criminal world from the winner of the Good Housekeeping Novel Writing competition 2016.

'Shadow Man is a harrowing and horrific game of consequences' Val McDermid

THE BRILLIANTLY COMPELLING SECOND NOVEL IN THE DI LUKAS MAHLER SERIES

A missing child. A seventy-year-old murder. And a killer who's still on the loose.

Ten year-old Erin is missing; taken in broad daylight during a friend's birthday party. With no witnesses and no leads, DI Lukas Mahler races against time to find her. But is it already too late for Erin - and will her abductor stop at one stolen child?

And the discovery of human remains on a construction site near Inverness confronts Mahler's team with a cold case from the 1940s. Was Aeneas Grant's murder linked to a nearby POW camp, or is there an even darker story to be uncovered?

With his team stretched to the limit, Mahler's hunt for Erin's abductor takes him from Inverness to the Lake District. And decades-old family secrets link both casesin a shocking final twist.

WHAT READERS ARE SAYING ABOUT MARGARET KIRK'S DEBUT NOVEL SHADOW MAN:

'Gripping'

'Kept me on my toes right to the end'

'Another great detective is born'

'Shadow Man has a taut plot, maintains suspense cleverly and is crisply written'

'The city of Inverness is almost a character in its own right'

'A top-notch crime thriller, full of intricate twists with a disturbing insight into the mind of a cold blooded killer'

'Dark and atmospheric, I just couldn't put it down'

Told with an admirable grasp on police procedure and an unerring feel for character, the truth gradually emerges from the horror: this is Tartan Noir at its very best.