Meet Tommy Bruce, an anti-hero as unlike his historical namesake as could be imagined - very nearly spineless andnot at all the man to save himself, until you push him too far... Tommy Bruce is washed-up in a ramshackle hotel inherited from dead parents in the armpit of Perthshire. Saddled with debt, grotty premises that are falling down around him and a crippling loneliness, Tommy is slowly but determinedly drinking himself and his business out of existence. Until one day, out of the blue, Fiona McLean blows into Tommy's life and the hotel. With the light she brings, Tommy's fortunes might just be turning around. But in her wake has also slipped in darkness - names and faces from the past who mean Tommy no goodwill at all, criminal forces that threaten to ruin him, the hotel and what little happiness he's managed, haplessly, to cobble together.

By James Yorkston