Published: April 2024
Author: Rob Little
The ferry Holigan Express crosses the Irish Sea daily, from Holyhead harbour on Anglesey to the newly opened port of Ballymagilligan in the Irish Republic. The ferry company owners aren’t too happy that crew theft is reducing profits.
It is January of a year before Brexit. Met Police Detective Constable Hamish MacNab joins the ferry undercover as Second Cook, to look into suspicions that criminal gangs are using the ferry to smuggle illegal immigrants and drugs and, whilst he’s at it, to look into the crew theft allegations.
Previously deep-sea employed and easily irked Purser Rupert Sewell joins the ferry at the same time as Hamish. His instructions are to root out thieving at the tills and suggest countering methods. He is not aware that the position he’s taking is that of the purser suspected of gasping his last breath whilst enjoying a sexual sandwich between the two buxom stewardesses working onboard.
The Chief Cook goes missing during a nighttime crossing. The captain turns the ferry around to search the course the ferry has taken, though he fears the cook could not have survived for long in the sea temperatures. Has the cook refused to obey the wishes of thieving militant seamen serving onboard? Will Hamish or the Gardie discover any truths?
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