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1993: Two people walk across frozen Lake Menteith towards the island of Inchmahome but only one of them returns..
Cold Grave
What you need to know before your trail
November 1993. Scotland is in the grip of the coldest winter in living memory and the Lake of Menteith is frozen over. A couple walks over the ice of Lake Menteith on their way to Inchmahome, an historic island which lies at the middle of the lake. Only the man comes back.
In springtime, staff working at the historic abbey on the island are preparing for the tourist season. They discover the remains of a young girl, and realise that her skull has been violently crushed.
Twenty years later, present day. Retired detective Alan Narey is still haunted by the unsolved crime. Daughter Rachel a DS opens the case and returns to the island in order to lay the case as well as her father’s conscience to rest.
But secrets buried on islands, once released in to the world at large, are no longer sheltered and protected
Travel Guide
The wintery setting of Scotland and in particular the island of Inchmahome and the Lake of Menteith are depicted as some of the most chilling and raw places in Scotland.
In the spring of 1994, a body was found on the island of Inchmahome in the middle of the Lake of Menteith (area around Callander and Stirling) It followed on from one of the coldest winters in living memory so when it is unsolved and reopened 20 years later this is the definite version of a cold case!
The Ice kingdom had winked at them on arrival: a teasing glimpse framed between the old church on one side and the arthritic arms of a barren chestnut tree on the other..
From the shore it looked like a Lowry painting…
In Glasgow, some 19 years later, the investigation, this cold case is reopened. This is particularly chilling and raw as the detective who worked on the original case now has Alzheimer’s and it’s his daughter who wants to find answers for him and free that memory from his now distant mind.
Appropriately the photographer who helps her is Tony Winter. But it’s his view, that of a keen eye which really gives a unique insight into the crime scene and setting.
He assists with the Off the record investigation but at what risk? When Rachel comes here many years later her view of the island is equally chilling –
“She stared at the island, lured by its darkness and mesmerised by its secrets”
Remote secrets frozen in time…
Streetview Maps
1) Stirling - The Lake of Menteith
5) Glasgow Highburgh Road
Where Rachel lives
Where Rachel lives
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Twitter: @craigrobertson_
Web: craigrobertsonbooks.co.uk
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