Night on the Killer Reef

How far would you go to clear the name of someone you loved?

It’s a wet and wild January evening in the old fishing village of Kinlochard.

Uneasiness winds its way through the streets as the tide rises in the harbour and waves rear up ghost-like in the glare of the moonlight.

Three miles out at sea, red flares burst out from the Killer Reef.

And old Mrs Gillon declares there’s death in the wind...

When Andrew Kerrigan, coxswain of the Kinlochard life-boat, is washed overboard during a daring rescue, the villagers remember his fondness for a dram and questing eye for women.

‘Accidental drowning’, the jury declares.

A tragedy that can only be linked to the rumours circulating about his whereabouts the hour before the call-out and his dishevelled, inebriated state when he finally arrived.

Dave Kerrigan, however, is determined to clear his father’s name.

Aided by the sharp young journalist, Maggie Gordon, their search to solve the mystery of the coxswain’s last ‘lost hour’ leads them along a twisted path through the past and present, uncovering the small village’s secrets of love, lust and murder.

But as Maggie declares, ‘truth is generally pricey’, and when they finally reach the heart of the matter, will the truth do more harm than good?

With its fresh and vivid account of life-boat rescue operations, Night on the Killer Reef is a thrilling and intense murder mystery.

Praise for Angus MacVicar

"Angus MacVicar runs John Buchan close as the supreme spinner of an enthralling yarn" — Daily Express

"The writer par excellence of Scottish thrillers" — Western Independent

“The finest exponent of the thick-ear thriller since the palmy days of ‘Sapper’ and John Buchan.” — Eric Gillett, in Time and Tide

Angus MacVicar was a Scottish writer specialising in crime thrillers, young adult and autobiography. His other books include The Singing Spider, The Ten Green Brothers and Crime’s Masquerader .