Fate and Fortune by Shirley McKay is the second book in her Hew Cullan murder mystery series.

The book begins in the year 1581 in St Andrews and the young Scottish lawyer Hew Cullan has arrived there too late, his father is already dead. Hew is now the owner of the family home, his father had also left a manuscript which Hew is to have published. Edinburgh is calling Hew and indeed unknown to him he has been apprenticed to Richard Cunningham, a well known advocate, but Hew isn’t keen on continuing his career in law. However, when a young fisherwoman is found dead on the beach, with obvious signs of having been raped, Hew is appalled by the attitude of those who should be seeking the culprit. The death of the young girl was apparently of no interest to them, she was of no importance. Hew thinks differently.

But Edinburgh beckons and after a long and eventful journey astride his ‘characterful’ horse Dun Scottis, along the coast to catch a ferry to Edinburgh Hew finds himself in desperate peril. For the first time in his life he realises that he has always been sheltered by the clothes that he wears as his life falls apart when he has to wear the old clothes of a fisherman and he no longer has the automatic respect of those in any kind of authority.

Eventually Hew manages to make his way to the publisher that his father wanted to publish his book. It is run by a young widow determined to keep the business going,

I enjoyed this one even more than the first book in this series – Hue and Cry – so I’m looking forward to reading the next one soonish.