A Cast of Falcons

The threat from above casts a dark shadow.

A man falls to his death from a cliff face in western Scotland. From a distance, another man watches. He approaches the body, tucks a book into the dead man’s pocket, and leaves.

When the Scottish police show visiting Detective Chief Inspector Domenic Jejeune the book, he recognizes it as a call for help. But he also knows that answering that call could destroy the life he and his girlfriend Lindy have built for themselves in the village of Saltmarsh, on the north Norfolk coast. It could even end his policing career. Or worse.

Back in Saltmarsh, the brutal murder of a researcher involved in a local climate change project has everyone looking at the man’s controversial studies as a motive. But Sergeant Danny Maik, heading the investigation in Jejeune’s absence, believes a huge cash incentive being offered for the research may play a crucial role.

With their beleaguered chief superintendent blocking every attempt to interview the project’s über-wealthy owners,and all roads seeming to lead back to a falconry located on the research facility's property, Jejeune and Maik must work together to find their answers. But with Jejeune’s secrets tearing the North Norfolk Constabulary apart, will the men’s partnership survive when the danger from above begins to cast its dark shadow?

Steve Burrows has pursued his birdwatching hobby on five continents. He is a former editor of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society Magazine and a contributing field editor for Asian Geographic. The first book in the Birder Murder Mystery series, A Siege of Bitterns, won the Crime Writers of Canada 2015 Award for Best First Novel. Steve lives in Oshawa, Ontario.