After powerful investors lose big, investigating a financial advisor's murder won't be child's play for a strained detective.

DI Jack Knox's Edinburgh team are busy dealing with a series of violent rapes when a man is found murdered on a residential street. The detective splits the under-resourced squad and follows up the murder himself, quickly establishing that there is no shortage of individuals who would have wanted the man dead.

The victim had secured private investments for NewTech, a video games company that fell foul of copyright law. A lot of serious people lost serious money. Whilst Knox treads on eggshells and traces the finances, the rest of the team led by his real life partner, DC Yvonne Mason, focus on the rape.

They zone in on the perpetrator, but cornered and desperate, their quarry won't go without a fight. Ready for a quiet life, yet battered from all sides, will this be one blow too many for Knox?

NOUGHTS AND CROSSES is the fourth standalone murder mystery by Robert McNeill in the DI Jack Knox series set in Edinburgh.