Independent Edinburgh, 2025

Global warming has turned the summer into the Big Heat. With water strictly rationed, citizens are mindlessly devoted to two things: the year-round tourist festival and the weekly lottery (Grand Prize: a five-minute shower per week for a month).

Then a body is discovered face-down in the Water of Leith – the only clue to the death, a bottle of lethal contraband whisky. As the body count rises, subversive investigator Quintilian Dalrymple faces a ruthless conspiracy to destabilise the city.