Bluegrass band Moorland Grass is on the verge of turning pro and hitting the music world like a cymbal crash. But the death of their fiddler, Dylan Ingram, has thrown a sour note into the band's future as well as thrown the lads' working relationships off-key. Now, one year after the murder, former police detective Michael McLaren is asked to investigate.

As McLaren pokes into the case, he hears about sharp words and flat expectations, and gets an earful of anger—some coming from the band members, some from Dylan's family. And there's that strange black car that attempts to run McLaren off the road...or worse.

The case comes together with help of a piece of music. But the finale nearly decomposes one night in a desperate run across the moor—and threatens to take McLaren along in that fade out.