True crime author launches new book in Montrose
The George Hotel in Montrose will next week host a book launch by Scottish crime author Mark Bridgeman.
‘Tuula: A True Crime Tragedy’ focuses on the murder of a Finnish girl on the island of Jersey on December 29, 1966, as she stood waiting at a bus stop in the pouring rain.
Several witnesses noticed her. Yet, when the next bus arrived, she did not get on. She had simply vanished.
The following morning her battered body was found in a muddy field three miles away.
Despite a huge police inquiry, an obvious suspect, an arrest, and a cold case review half a century later, Tuula's death has remained a mystery. It is still the only unsolved murder in the Island's history - until now.
Working with the exclusive help of the States of Jersey Police and Tuula's family in Finland, bestselling true crime writer Mark Bridgeman has at last pieced together the truth about Tuula's murder and provided a solution to the mystery that has haunted Tuula's family since that fateful night.
Mark said: “It’s been an incredible and emotional journey that’s taken three years, but, at last, I’ve unlocked the secret that Tuula kept from her family which helped find her killer. This might be one of the most interesting true crime stories you have ever read.”
Tuula had travelled from Finland to work for the summer in Jersey, unaware of the dark secrets that lurked on the island.
Mark continued: “There are several fascinating angles which I explore in the book, one of which is the staggering levels of crime on Jersey during the 1960s and ‘70s, which went largely unreported on the mainland. The book also tells the story of Tuula’s brilliant but tragically short life, and the impact that she had on all those around her. Had she lived, she might well have been a household name today.”
The author’s previous titles include ‘Nothing For Something: The Violet Charlesworth Story’, and well-received bestsellers ‘Bristol: Bullets, Blades, and Barricades’, and ‘Perthshire’s Pound of Flesh’, with the latter being a Waterstones’ Regional Book of the Year.
The launch will take place at the George Hotel, George Street on June 4 at 7.30pm.