1582, St Andrews. A violent storm wrecks a ship nearby, and the only man about dies without revealing how he came to be there alone, or where the ship was headed. But neither he nor the wreck is really of interest to the townsfolk of St Andrews. Lashed to the deck of the ship is a windmill, a much-needed innovation for the town, but one which soon brings devestation as squabbling over its ownership breaks out.

Tasked with tracing the ship to its source, reluctant lawyer Hew Cullan embarks on a journey that will take him far from the security of home and family to Ghent, in the war-torn Low Countries. But are the truth and tragedy surrounding the windmill's real owner – and the death's connected to it – closer to home than Hew could ever imagine?

Time & Tide is the third Hew Cullan mystery by Shirley McKay.