Cuddies Strip

 

Cuddies Strip, a novel by Rob McInroy, has been longlisted for the Crime Writers' Association John Creasey (First Blood) Dagger Award. It can be purchased here

In August 1935, Marjory Fenwick, seventeen, and Danny Kerrigan, eighteen, go for a walk on the Cuddies Strip, a lovers’ lane on the outskirts of Perth, Scotland. There is a full moon and, although it is ten o’clock in the evening, the residual heat from the day’s sunshine lingers. Marjory and Danny kiss, hold hands, walk.

In an instant, their lives are changed forever. A shotgun sounds and Danny collapses to the ground. Terrified, Marjory runs for help but she hears footsteps behind her and as she tries to cross a stile she is dragged back into the fields.

What she doesn’t know then is that her ordeal is only just beginning.

Cuddies Strip is a fictionalised account of a true crime which shocked the quiet city of Perth. The novel follows the investigation, as Inspector Conoboy and PC Bob Kelty struggle as much with their own colleagues as they do with the mystery behind such terrible crimes. And it follows the experience of Marjory, for whom justice would become a bitter commodity.

Cuddies Strip details the unfolding investigation as Conoboy and Kelty race to solve the crime before the killer and rapist strikes again, but it also examines the mores of the times and the casual treatment of women in a male-dominated society. It is a novel of hope and belonging, trust and love.