Rook - Thirty Seconds

A man is dead inside a locked Edinburgh flat. A year later, the police still have no idea who killed him.

Property developer Frederick Thornton lived an unusual but carefully ordered life. He had no permanent home, few friends and almost no social life. He bought buildings for cash, renovated them, moved on to the next project and accounted for every penny he earned.

Then someone struck him in the back of the head.

When police discover more than £200,000 hidden throughout his temporary home, robbery seems the obvious motive. Except the money hasn't been touched. Worse, Frederick's meticulous accounts reveal another £446,017 that should exist in cash but has simply vanished.

The investigation goes nowhere.

A year later, Frederick's daughter Abigail returns from Australia determined to take control of the property portfolio she inherited and discover why her father's killer is still free. What she finds instead are discrepancies in the business, a secretary helping himself to money, and questions the police seem unable to answer.

She needs someone who will start again.

Reginald Rook doesn't advertise. He doesn't need the money and has little interest in easy cases. A former soldier, intelligence analyst and detective, he takes investigations for one reason: something about them doesn't make sense.

Frederick Thornton's death doesn't make sense.

As Rook begins pulling apart the original investigation, he discovers hidden relationships, unexplained absences, family secrets and a fortune that apparently disappeared.

Everyone overlooked something.

Rook only needs to find out what.

And sometimes the smallest detail changes everything.