Staff in the radiology department at University Hospital Wishaw were recently blindsided by one of their colleagues, Alison Aitchison, when she announced she had secretly written and published her debut crime fiction novel entitled ‘The Sculptor’.
‘The Sculptor’ is set in the Scottish Highlands and tells the story of four missing girls, their disappearances spanning a decade. Suspected runaways, no one is looking for them anymore – until a new detective arrives.
DS Tracy McGregor, a disgraced police officer from Glasgow, demoted after the way she handled her last case, has recently relocated to Inverness. In charge of cold cases, she discovers a link between these missing girls, which if she is correct suggests Inverness may have a serial killer in their midst.
Meanwhile, Katie O’Connor, a nurse from London, has moved to Inverness to start a new life. Unbeknownst to her, someone is watching her.
When Katie goes missing under similar circumstances, it becomes a race against time to find her – will DS McGregor reach her before it’s too late?
When asked how she got into writing, Alison said “I was a member of the creative writing group at primary school. When I was only nine years old I wrote and illustrated a children’s book for my younger sister. It was never published, but it did plant the seed. Life then somehow got in the way and it was only when my husband was busy working on his doctorate, that my passion for writing was reignited.”
“As an avid reader of anything crime-related, I had the idea that I wanted to write a book about a serial killer, but not just a cold-blooded killer. The killer had to have a reason for killing these girls, so I had to come up with a motive pretty early on—the rest of the story developed from there. But I also wanted to weave in my love of Scottish architecture and interior design to try and create my unique writing style.”
When asked what her plans were for her next book, Alison commented “Without giving too much away, I can reveal the next book I am working on is a prequel to ‘The Sculptor,’ which delves into DS McGregor’s past and the case she was working on which led to her demotion. This book will hopefully be released next summer.”
“Beyond this, I have many more adventures planned for DS McGregor in and around Inverness.”
“I would like to thank everyone so much for the support and kindness you have afforded me since I shared my exciting news with you all.”
‘The Sculptor’ is available now on Amazon in Kindle/paperback and hardback formats here.
