Book excerpt: She began to scrape at the mortar. A few minutes later she was able to prise the edge of the brick loose. The resulting rush of foetid air made her gag, but she focussed her torch beam on the enlarged hole and peered inside. Her eyes widened in horror. When art student Jude Evans vanishes on a photographic visit to a derelict Glasgow cinema, her friend Liam enlists the help of his birth mother - forensic scientist Dr Rhona MacLeod - in his search for her. Visiting other cinemas on her list, they find clues to her disappearance and to the horrifying secret she may have discovered behind those walls. Throughout the investigation, Rhona must deal with the news that a face from her past is literally back from the dead - but for how long?