Organised crime washes up on shores of Loch Melfort
A former senior police officer turned crime writer, who launched his latest novel, Shores of Death, this month, says he found fresh inspiration for the book on the shores of Loch Melfort.
Peter Ritchie, pictured right, a former fisherman and retired senior police officer from Musselburgh, near Edinburgh, delivers real-world authenticity in his novels through his experience gained working in CID, serious and regional crime squads and Europol.
Peter told The Oban Times he had been holidaying at the Pier Lodges at Melfort Pier and Harbour, Kilmelford for many years: ‘I have put a lot of words on paper there, in between enjoying the wonderful scenery.
‘The north end of the loch is where some dramatic action takes place between a team of Newcastle gangsters and a specialist police team headed by Macallan.’ This is Peter’s third book with protagonist DCI Grace Macallan.
An undercover officer is missing and a young woman is washed up barely alive on the Berwickshire coast. The story is complex, a web involving trafficked women from Eastern Europe and alliance of ruthless criminals from Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
At the head of this corporation is Pete Handyside a dangerous career criminal, who realises his team has been infiltrated and sets off a train of events where some of the most cold-blooded criminals turn on each other in an attempt to clean the trail of evidence leading to them.
Peter continued: ‘This is the most complex story I’ve written so far and what I love about it was I was able to use the experience of my early life as a deep sea fisherman working from North Shields on the banks of the Tyne. Those experiences had a profound effect on the way I saw the world and the hardships at sea taught me some painful lessons.
‘When I first started my time at sea my first summers were spent working from Oban at the hake and then langoustine fishing, and I fell in love with the whole area and, of course, the islands. One of my favourite spots is Loch Melfort.’
Shores of Death is available to purchase now.