The Piper

About the book

Scotland Yard inspector Ian Rutledge comes back traumatized from the battlefields of World War I, haunted by the memory of Hamish MacLeod, the young Scots soldier he had to execute. In a new stand-alone short story by Charles Todd, Hamish takes center stage.

Prior to the war, Hamish lived on a small farm in the Highlands, tending to his grandmother's flock of sheep in a croft on the hillside. During a fierce spring storm, he hears a cry in the distance and braves the weather to investigate. Near the loch, he discovers a wounded young boy with a bagpipe beside him. Hamish brings the boy to his home, nurses his head wound, but wakes up to find the boy gone. Frantic, he sets out to find him, only to discover the boy dead in the heather.

Who was the mysterious piper, and who wanted him dead? As Hamish delves into the mystery, he realizes that not everyone in the community is as trustworthy as he thought, and until he unravels the motive, everyone is a suspect, including himself.