Detective Inspector McCutcheon and Sergeant Guthrie, intrepid but inept operatives of the Glasgow constabulary; Brigadier Sir James Easterfern, a high ranking officer within the territorial army and head honcho of the Masonic order; Timothy the tortoise, snatched from his birthplace in 17th century West Virginia, thereafter resident in Mrs Snooke's garden in the parish of Selborne, but spending most of his days in the remote, idyllic village of Glenelg in the Scottish Highlands - these are our principal characters - "And all the world's a stage " Let battle commence, for Timothy is coveted by the Freemasons, whilst the villagers are determined that he is one of their own who deserves to live out his days among them. McCutcheon and Guthrie, having been sent undercover to Glenelg in order to investigate a mysterious case of arson, find themselves embroiled in the struggle for possession of this most august of tortoises. Bloody history, myth and legend lend even more confusion to the plot of this comic thriller, the second publication in McDonald's "Scottish Crime Chortlenoir" series.