Author Ian Rankin revealed that he upset villagers in Rosemarkie after setting a grisly murder tale there.
The Rebus creator set his 2012 detective novel Standing In Another Man’s Grave in the Ross-shire village.
It featured Inspector Rebus investigating the disappearance of a missing girl, and uncovering a link between a series of seemingly unconnected disappearances.
Mr Rankin owns a home in Cromarty, which neighbours Rosemarkie, and is often recognised when out and about.
He has been chastised by locals for including the village in the grim tale.
In an appearance on the FarNorth Podcast, he said: “When people recognised me I started to get, ‘Why don’t you set a story up here?’
“The year after the book was published, they would say, ‘Why did you have that terrible thing happen in Rosemarkie?’
“I’d say, ‘Because you asked. If you want me to set a book here, it’ll obviously be a crime book.’”
To avoid any more light-hearted complaints, Mr Rankin invented a Highland village called Naver for his latest Rebus book, A Song for the Dark Times.
He added: “I didn’t want to get in trouble with the locals again.”
Mr Rankin recently appeared at the Granite Noir festival, hosted virtually in Aberdeen.
Speaking at the event, Mr Rankin explained the “difficult position” many crime fiction writers find themselves in.
He said: “He said: “The police detective as the main character in crime fiction seems to be disappearing fairly quickly.
“It seems to be less popular and fewer writers are doing it compared to how many did it previously.”
