The Dark Pool: Black Gold, High Finance, and Love in the Scottish Highlands is set mainly in the remote Highlands of Scotland. In 1997, a body surfaces in Blairhyle's notorious dark pool, supposedly a peat bog, but shady businessman Dalhousie learns its secret. Historian Eks Jones, a young widow, is writing a book on the Highland Clearances, the forced depopulation of the Scottish Highlands. Learning that a handful of people had survived the 1793 Blairhyle Clearance and eventually founded the tiny village of Crannog, she goes to live there and meets Mikel, the love of her life. Their wedding plans are on hold because history threatens to repeat itself. Crannog is threatened with demolition to make way for a pipeline. Dalhousie has announced a mega oil strike in Blairhyle and conned the government into backing him. However, the head of MI5 has investigated Dalhousie and set up a sting operation to entrap him. Only five people know about the sting, and meanwhile Eks joins Crannog's Action Group to fight the government and save the village. Born and educated in Scotland, Liz Cochrane became head teacher of a remote school in the Highlands. Writing about life and blizzards in the Highlands, she is drawing on her own experience. She took early retirement, moved to the south of Spain, and studied Spanish language, art, history, and culture. She now lectures on art history in two languages. She says, "I think of myself as a Scottish Spaniard. Scottish comes first. I care deeply for my native land, and I think that comes out in The Dark Pool." Publisher's website: http: //sbprabooks.com/LizCochrane
