The distant echo (2003)

Four students find a dying woman in St Andrews and spend the following twenty-five years living under suspicion. When a cold-case review begins, the lives they have built offer little protection against old accusations and fresh danger. McDermid makes the passage from young friendship to adult responsibilities central to what the case can cost. This opens the Karen Pirie series, though much of the novel follows the men affected by the original investigation. Expect sexual violence and a substantial movement between periods.