A BARRY expat now living in Spain has turned his attention to his former coastal home town in the hope of gaining a murderous bestseller.

Andrew Peters, 56, has published his Barry Island Murders (BIM) tome on global online retailer Amazon and is hoping the story will help the town secure another place on the worldwide map.

The former Romilly School pupil worked in the UK as a banker, French teacher and professional singer/guitarist around the world, having left Barry in 1968.

He moved to Spain in 2004 where he is now “resting” in a small village in Extremadura “with a load of guitars and two Spanish cats.”

He said: “I started writing in June 2012 and now have ten books out plus three Kindle-only novellas.

“The BIM is number six, but the first one to feature Williams Of The Yard.

“Most of the others feature The Blues Detective - Otis King, a detective from Aberdare who lives in Memphis and only solves Blues-related crimes.

“While I write crime stuff, there's generally a fair bit of humour in there.

“The Barry Island Murders was written in January 2013 and took me about three weeks. I write fast!

It's the story of three murder cases in Barry in the 60s, where bodies keep turning up in strange places. It's told by DI Williams in 2012 to a reporter from a national newspaper who's interested in buying his memoirs for serialisation, but is a bit worried about them being a little rambling and non PC. The Barry & District News gets a mention as DI Williams needs their help to identify a murder victim.”

He added: “It's based on my memories of Barry as a child, so it's not a detailed story of Barry, nor any kind of accurate police procedural - just a bit of fun with some mystery thrown in.

“Of all the books I've written, this is the one that's sold most.

“Obviously the word 'Barry' is a major attraction.”

The book is available on paper and for Kindle from Amazon with one copy in Barry Library.