When a young student mysteriously disappears, Inspector John Rebus comes up with two bizarre clues--a carved wooden doll in a coffin and an Internet role-playing game--and must follow a deadly trail from Edinburgh's past to a modern-day killer.

Kate Hibbert is all too eager to lend a hand to her neighbors. Although she has been a resident of the sleepy village of Lochdubh for only a year, in that time Kate has alienated one too many of its residents with her interfering-and not entirely well-intentioned-ways. When Kate's neighbor sees her lugging a heavy suitcase to the bus stop, he hopes that the prying woman is gone for good. But two weeks later, Kate's cousin arrives in town with the...