Murder with bite... Dr. Frederick Gilchrist has a reputation. Though his cheap rates and penchant for pulling teeth have earned him a clientele, wiser highlanders avoid the womanizing dentist. It takes a blinding toothache to send Hamish Macbeth 120 miles out of Lochdubh to see the man, only to find him dead. Since everyone is pleased the dentist is deceased-patients, several harassed women, his ex-wife-Macbeth faces one of the more biting challenges of his career. When he starts extracting clues, he uncovers a past as dangerous as it is shocking.