Cast the First Stone - Tapa dura

It is late 1879 when James Murdoch finally returns to Scotland after a year-long adventure in South Africa. His wife, Barbara, is thrilled to see her husband again - and shocked when he reveals to her on the train ride home that he has been offered a partnership in the Kimberley diamond mine. But only moments after she agrees to follow him back to South Africa, their train plunges off the famous Tay Rail Bridge. The bodies of James and Barbara Murdoch are never recovered. Their young son, Henry, is now an orphan.

Twenty years later, the South African War is just underway. In the course of his military duties, Captain Henry Murdoch interrogates Boer spies suspected of espionage - a task that eventually leads him and his partner to uncover a Boer assassination plot against the British Army commander-in-chief in South Africa. Now, Murdoch must find a spy and trained assassin amongst the British ranks before he strikes.

Fast forward to today's world, in which American Gordon Mackenzie is now leading the British Commonwealth War Graves Commission office in France. His role places him unknowing into the middle of a covert espionage ring involving misdirected funds and a kinky subculture. Mackenzie has no idea that his trusted colleagues are not who they claim to be.

In this follow up to Severed Branch, a tale of espionage, greed, and shadowy syndicates emerges. Two men, in different times, are about to uncover hidden family secrets that link them and their futures together forever.