The Dark Loch

A Scottish Highlands Murder Mystery

By: Phillip Strang

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Exiled from Glasgow. Hunting killers in the Highlands.

Detective Inspector Sarah Lynch thought her career was over when she exposed corruption in Glasgow CID. Her reward? Exile to Fort William—a backwater posting in the Scottish Highlands where she's meant to fade into obscurity.

But the Highlands have darker secrets than Glasgow ever did.

When an environmental consultant's body is pulled from a remote loch, Sarah uncovers an illegal deer poaching operation that stretches across Highland estates. The powerful landowners who run these estates don't take kindly to outsiders asking questions—especially a disgraced Glasgow detective with something to prove.

As Sarah digs deeper, the case spirals from poaching to murder, from local crime to a conspiracy that reaches into Scotland's highest circles. The wealthy aristocrats controlling vast Highland estates are willing to kill to protect their interests. And they have friends in places that matter.

Isolated, outnumbered, and under pressure to back off, Sarah faces a choice: accept that remote doesn't mean justice, or prove that even in the wild Highlands, murder has consequences.

Perfect for fans of Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, and atmospheric British crime thrillers.

The first case in the Detective Sarah Lynch Mysteries—where exile becomes purpose, and Highland isolation hides deadly secrets.

Drags pretty badly

The story started out OK, but eventually I realized that I was hearing the same terms and phrases over and over. Once the murder was solved, the story kept going for no reason.
The narration was fairly deadpan (AI) and not sure why a story set in Scotland was narrated with an English accent.