Long Time Dead

Gus Dury has fallen back into drinking, and he is still recovering in hospital from a hit-and-run when his close friend Hod comes to him with a job. Someone has been hanged on the grounds of Edinburgh University in a ritual-style killing, and Hod wants Gus to look into it. The dead student's mother is a well-known actress, and she has offered a large reward for answers.

With money in short supply, Gus takes a post as a janitor at the university so he can work from the inside. He soon stumbles on an earlier hanging, carried out in the 1970s, that followed the same pattern. Most students refuse to discuss it, but that changes when another member of their circle is found dead in the same way.

As the investigation pushes into more dangerous territory, Gus starts to uncover what is happening and who might be behind it. The deeper he digs, the more he puts himself in the sights of the killer.