The Haunting Of Barney Thomson — Douglas Lindsay

The king of barbershop death junkies is back, in another novel of blood, murder, ghosts, terror and downright stupidity. As Barney Thomson is closing up the barbershop for the night, an old man enters looking for a Cary Grant cut and a bit of a chat. The following day, Barney discovers that his late night customer was the captain of a fishing trawler which had been found mysteriously abandoned on the Clyde over one hundred years previously. In a sinister echo of that old legend, that morning a trawler is found drifting in a flat calm just off the island. Of the three trawlermen known to have been on board the Bitter Wind, one is found dead on the vessel, two are missing. The police arrive, led by DCI Frankenstein and an officer from Barney's past, Detective Sergeant Proudfoot. As the ghosts mount up for Barney Thomson, could it just be that he is in an episode of Scooby Doo, featuring a lot of villains in masks? Or is it a real, dark and menacing evil which haunts the small seaside town, and haunts what could be the final days of Barney Thomson?