Kilt at the Highland Games — Kaitlyn Dunnett

It's July in Moosetookalook, Maine, and Scottish Emporium proprietress Liss MacCrimmon Ruskin is prepping her wares for the annual Celtic heritage festival. But as a sinister crime wave washes over the quiet town, this year's celebration might prove a wee bit more eventful -- and deadly -- than tartan and bagpipes...

When a fire ravages the local bookstore late one evening, Liss immediately fears the worst for owner Angie Hogencamp and the two young children who live above the shop. After the terrible blaze dies down, however, the family is nowhere to be found among the ruins. It's as if the three just vanished into smoke. Or even stranger -- like they never existed at all.

Disturbed by Angie's disappearance and suspecting arson, Liss counts on the weekend-long Western Maine Highland Games -- complete with a parade and fireworks display -- to offer a temporary distraction from the countless questions filling her head. But when the sound of a gunshot leads Liss to selectman Jason Graye's dead body on opening day, she's drawn into a full-blown homicide investigation like a moth to a flame.

Is Moosetookalook suffering from a streak of bad luck, or are the two grim incidents connected? Unable to shake the notion that new victims are being targeted around town--and despite her worried husband's best protests--Liss races to nab the killer. And with her own life on the line, she'll need to act swiftly. Because when it comes to this kind of game, somebody has to lose . . .