Time and Tide — Shirley McKay

A shipwreck brings excitement -- and tragedy -- to a sixteenth-century town, and a reluctant lawyer is drawn into the mystery behind it . . .

In the swell of a storm, a ship is wrecked in Scotland's St Andrews harbor. A young Flemish sailor, the last man aboard, collapses and dies at the inn. The cargo of the ship appears a welcome windfall -- but soon brings devastation to the town as petty squabbling turns to rage and tragedy.

Now Hew Cullen must trace the ship to its source in Ghent, where he uncovers a strange secret. Unwilling to allow the law to take its course, he will return once more to the bitter role of advocate, to find his deepest principles are tested to the core, in this suspenseful mystery by a Dagger Award finalist.