Above Suspicion

Published by Robert Hale on 29th October 2010 ISBN: 9780709091363 Hardback £18.99 Also available as e-book

Above Suspicion Edinburgh, and the island of Islay, world famous for its Scotch whisky distilleries, is the setting of the third assignment for DJ Smith, agent for HM Revenue & Customs, and her “sniffer” cat, Gorgonzola. The girlfriend of Louis Moran has arrived in Scotland and is staying as the guest of Sir Thomas Cameron‑Blaik, wealthy and respected businessman and owner of Srón Dubh distillery. HMRC is convinced that Moran, a ruthless international drug baron, will join her there, and that as well as finalising another drugs operation, Sir Thomas’s whisky business may well be a target. DJ Smith is sent in undercover role as butler to Sir Thomas. Accompanying her is her “sniffer” cat Gorgonzola whose sensitive nose detects something much more sinister than drugs. With millions of pounds worth of whisky and drugs at stake, anyone who stands in Moran’s way will die, anyone who even rouses the slightest suspicion – and DJ Smith does exactly that. Others who have threatened his multi‑million pound master plan have already been eliminated, and one more makes no difference. He will stop at nothing to find out who she is and who sent her. A dramatic endgame is played out in darkness on the Firth of Forth with a backdrop of the twinkling lights of Edinburgh. To follow in DJ's footsteps on Islay, Click Here to go to the Slide Show		I pushed open the heavy door – and immediately wished I hadn’t. I don’t know what I’d expected to see, but it certainly wasn’t Gonçalves’ dead body. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath, and stepped forward. How long had he been dead? Tentatively I touched the back of the hand dangling limply on my side of the table. Still warm. A comfortably upholstered black leather and chrome chair lay on its back, the only sign that Gonçalves had put up any kind of a fight. He must have known his assailant. Wary of visitors, he wouldn’t have opened the door to an unknown. The slam of car doors in the street outside brought home how incriminating it would be if I was found here, standing on bloodstained floorboards beside the body of a man who’d just been brutally murdered. That would take a lot of explaining away. I turned and made for the door. BAM BAM BAM. The thick panels trembled under a violent pounding. ‘Police! We know you’re in there, Gonçalves. Open up!’ BAM BAM BAM. ‘Open up, or we’ll shoot off these fancy door locks.’ I took a deep breath, and with a hand that shook, took hold of the key and turned it.