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Early 2000s: There are dangerous predators lurking in the wilds of Aberdeenshire..
Early 2000s: There are dangerous predators lurking in the wilds of Aberdeenshire..
When the body of a young girl is washed up just outside the sleepy town of Banff, a major police investigation gets underway. Acting Detective Inspector Logan McRae has been sent to the small town on some kind of ‘development opportunity’ following an earlier case. This is divisional policing at its finest– drug dealers, shop lifters, vandals and the odd escaped farm animal are who and what you’re protecting now.
The Major Investigation Team come up from Aberdeen to take on the task of the dead girl. They want answers, and they don’t care who they trample over to get them.
Logan’s got problems sorting this latest case out – trying to keep his team together and DCI Steel wanting him back on her team. But this case is what they need to focus on right now.
Rural Aberdeenshire has more than its fair share of problems.
It’s just after Christmas in Aberdeen and the remnants of the festivities seem to mock the cold dark days of January. Banff is a small , sedate and relatively peaceful coastal town. The police work here is of a more rural nature and a complete contrast to that which Logan used to do when in Aberdeen. It’s cold claustrophobic and remote.
If he thinks the job is going to be easier however, he could not be more wrong. The way the police work and communicate here compared to Aberdeen gives a fascinating insight into rural and city procedures.
Drug dealers and stolen cash machines are one thing but the murdered girl brings the grit of Aberdeen all the way north.
The murder brings Logan’s old colleagues and DCI Steel up north where the weather is cold and extreme. The gloom of the post Christmas lull is omnipresent ands is reflected in the moods of the characters. But with names such as Biohazard Bob, the wit and humour of the local police and the general Scottish banter more than beats away the dark clouds over head. In fact this mix of gloomy settings with warm wit and humour really set a unique scene.
Maybe Aberdeen is not the first place that comes to mind when you think of food but to really immerse yourself into the story, get yourself a stovie – meat and potato dish which was originally the left overs of your sunday lunch what was left on the stove as it were. Sausage rolls, junk food – so that “ every burp burned”
Twitter: /StuartMacBride
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Web: stuartmacbride.com
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