AUTHOR Tony Black has revealed this week how his own connections to the town inspired the setting for Artefacts of the Dead.

Tony’s new gritty slice of noir even has a detective protagonist who hails from Cumnock.

Detective Inspector Bob Valentine is a son of a miner from the town who spent his childhood in Keir Hardie Hill - which was not a random choice, said Black.

“My wife is actually from Cumnock,” he revealed. “She grew up in Keir Hardie Hill in the 80s, right ata the time of the miners strike.” Black, 42, who met his wife, Cheryl, at Ayr’s Belmont Academy, said her tales of life in Cumnock were a constant source of inspiration.

“Cheryl’s forever talking about the old days in Cumnock and how the place has changed, I’d have to have had my ears painted on to be immune to it!

“When I was looking for a background for my main character, Bob Valentine, all Cheryl’s stories seemed almost tailor made for him.

“Bob’s a cop, so making him the son of a miner who grew up in the hard days of the strike just added a great bit of conflict. As a writer you latch onto stuff like that because it’s literary gold.” Artefacts of the Dead opens with DI Valentine investigating the murder of a super-rich banker in Ayr, before going on to probe a number of seedy murders around Burns Country.

Black, who has been described by Irvine Welsh as “my favourite British crime writer” now lives in Ayrshire with wife, Cheryl, also 42, and son Conner, 2.

He said: “I really wanted to draw on my experience of the west of Scotland for this book, it’s full of a lot of stuff that seems to be familiar to people who know the area - though the banker bit is perhaps just wish fulfilment on my part!” Since publication earlier this month, Artefacts of the Dead has already picked up a number of rave reviews, with the Daily Mail calling it “among the best of the new Tartan Noir”.

The Daily Record said Artefacts of the Dead was “a gripping tome that’s as chilling as the waves that lap Ayr’s shore in the dead of night”.

Artefacts of the Dead is published by Black & White Publishing and is available now in paperback and eBook.