The Watermark

Inverurie, 2007. The Kelloch Mill is dying by inches, and every soul at Port Elphinstone knows it and none of them says it.

When Tam Birnie, retired beatman and the mill's own historian, is found dead at the foot of the salle stair, the works grieves its memory keeper and settles on an accident: an old man, worn steps, papers at all hours.

But a boiler chart says the mill was not empty that night. A blown bulb says somebody had the counting lights on. And DS Cormac Buchan, walking the machine floor with his wee book, is taught by two ladies in blue coats the oldest trick in the paper trade: hold the sheet up to the light, and the watermark will tell you when it was born, whatever the letterhead claims.

The third of the Early Years mysteries, and the season DS Buchan found the words for his life's method: the warld keeps books.