<p><b><i>The Granite City is ready to burn, and all it takes is a single spark . . .</i></b><br><br>In the heat of a blistering summer, Aberdeen¿s police are struggling: half the force is off sick, leave has been cancelled, someone¿s firebombed a hotel full of migrants, and there¿s a massive protest march happening this Saturday.<br><br>With officers dropping like flies, Detective Inspector Logan McRae is forced to juggle cases and run a major murder investigation with a skeleton staff of misfits, idiots and malingerers until the top brass can arrange back-up from other divisions.<br><br>It doesn¿t help that the <i>Aberdeen Examiner</i> has just been bought by Natasha Agapova, a tabloid media tycoon hell-bent on blaming local police for everything. And she¿s <i>more</i> than happy to fan the flames.<br><br>But, as bad as everything seems, it¿s all about to get much, <i>much</i> worse . . .<br><br><b>* * *</b><br><br><b>Praise for Stuart MacBride:</b><br><br>''Dark and brilliantly writt
