The East Shore of Loch Lomond – The Real Location Behind Blood and Money
The east shore of Loch Lomond in Scotland, reached by a single-track road past Drymen and then on foot along the West Highland Way, is the real setting for the opening crime scene of Blood and Money, book 1 in my McBride & Tanner series. Here's the story of the 400-mile research trip I made to stand in that spot, and the car park that nearly caught me out.
In May 2022, I took what you might think of as a slightly ridiculous trip.
I'd already written Blood and Money, but I wanted to record my habitual crime scene video, where I stand in the spot where the body is going to be found at the beginning of the book and talk to the camera about what happens.
But there was a problem. The crime scene in Blood and Money is on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, beyond the point where the road reaches. And I was living in Birmingham, which is 400 miles away.
A research trip from Birmingham to Loch Lomond
I had a plan. I also needed to do some research for the Cumbria Crime series, which I write with Joel Hames. I could combine the two in one weekend.
So, one Saturday morning, very early, I set off from Birmingham. I was in Lancaster by lunchtime and spent that day touring the Cumbria coast, exploring potential locations for the Cumbria Crime series. It was a glorious day, and I got masses of inspiration, but that's another story.
I spent the night in a hotel not too far from the M6 near Carlisle, and on the Sunday morning I had a day to get to the crime scene in Blood and Money, do some research, record my video, and then get to a hotel for the night.
Luckily, the traffic north of Carlisle into Scotland is far less heavy than it is from Birmingham to the Lake District. I made great time and was past Glasgow by lunchtime. I stopped at a service station for a very unimpressive lunch, and then ploughed on towards the eastern shores of Loch Lomond.
I hadn't actually been there before. My research trips up to that point had been to the western side of the loch, where DI Jade Tanner lives. I'd used a combination of Google Maps, Google Street View and photographs online to get a feel for the eastern side of the loch for that opening crime scene.
But I hate writing crime scenes without actually going to the location, so I knew I needed to stand in the spot and see what it was like.
Where is the crime scene in Blood and Money?
I drove up the single-track road past Drymen, pausing occasionally to let other cars pass. The most complicated moment was when two women in a campervan came past me, and I had to get right off the road to move out of their way. And at last, I was at the end of the road and the car park.
But there was another problem.
I'm a city girl. I'm not used to being in places where they don't take cards, and this car park had a machine that only took cash. Of course, I had no cash on me.
I'd driven all the way from Birmingham. There was no way I was going to turn around and give up, and I knew there wouldn't be a cash point for miles and miles.
So I took the risk. I parked, but I didn't pay. I knew there was a chance of getting a parking ticket, but to be honest, the ticket would probably have cost me less than the fuel to get all the way up to Loch Lomond.
I crossed my fingers and headed north up the West Highland Way. The opening scene in Blood and Money features Phineas Montague, America's newest tech billionaire. He has a house on the shores of the loch north of that car park, in a spot only accessible by helicopter. He's a billionaire, of course, so that isn't a problem.
But to find where that spot would be, I needed to walk. Which was no hardship, as the West Highland Way is a truly beautiful walk.
I headed north until eventually I found the spot.
The house doesn't exist. It's only there in my imagination and in the pages of the book. But I didn't need to stand where the house would be. I needed to stand where Phineas Montague would be when he was shot. It gave me the perfect opportunity not only to record that video but to imagine how Phineas could be shot and where the shooter would be.
What I learned on the east shore of Loch Lomond
This turned out to be instrumental in writing the final draft of the book, as I made a lot of edits based on what I learned that day.
I discovered that there are small islands off that shore of the loch, which would be a great place for a sniper to hide. I worked out the distance over to the western shore and watched the road running along it. I noted that the road is noisy, even from the eastern shore. That gave me a feel for what it would be like to stand in that spot, which I could translate into Phineas's feelings in chapter one.
So I walked around. I tramped through brambles, followed the path, and considered how the police vehicles would get to the crime scene, which turned out to be an issue as there was only a path and not a road. But walking that path helped me realise that you could get up there with a four-by-four. If I hadn't walked it, I'd never have known. But now I could make those scenes more realistic.
I made notes in my head, took lots of photos, and recorded a video of myself speaking about the location to camera. And then, at last, I was done.
Did I get a parking ticket?
It was time to face the music.
I headed back to the car park, wondering if that ticket would be on the windscreen. And when I arrived, there was a police van at the entrance.
For a moment, I panicked. 'Oh hell, I've got that ticket.'
But I reminded myself to calm down. I'd already accepted that if I got a ticket, it would just be an extraordinarily expensive parking fee. It was worth it, after all.
But police vans aren't interested in parking. That's the traffic warden's job, and the police van must have been there on some other business. So I hurried to my car, checked that there was no ticket (phew) and started to drive back south.
Once again, I took that narrow, winding, single-track lane south to Drymen, a bit different this time because I had that police van in front of me.
The driver clearly knew the road, because they were driving at a much higher speed than I would have. But I was behind them, which meant I was safe, so I followed. It gave me a good feel for how the police might drive around those lanes: again, useful for the books.
At last, I arrived at my hotel, which is the inspiration for the hotel in McBride & Tanner book 3, Power and Treachery. But that's another story.
Blood and Money, I hope, is a much better book because I made that trip. It certainly made it more enjoyable to write, and I hope it makes it more enjoyable for you to read.
