A CRIME thriller has been published this spring in which a serial killer stalks the canal towpaths of Worcester.

Canal Pushers is the debut novel by Andy Griffee, a former BBC journalist.

“I wanted the first book to start and end in Worcester as it is a city I know so well,” said Mr Griffee.

The book’s prologue begins with a deliberate drowning at night on the towpath near the Commandery and ends with another attack on the Worcester and Birmingham canal at Oddingley. The climax of the book takes place on the canal during a Worcester Warriors’ home game at Sixways.

The idea for the book, which was published on May 2, was inspired by newspaper reports of a possible serial killer who may be at large in the Greater Manchester area where a number of unexplained drownings have taken place.

Mr Griffee,57, said: “Canals can be wonderfully peaceful and beautiful places, but they can also be dark and threatening as well and I wanted the book to capture that sinister aspect.”

He hopes readers will be gripped by the story of a divorced and penniless ex-journalist who buys a narrowboat to live on and soon becomes embroiled in trouble and chased by the media, a professional crime gang and the serial killer who disguises himself as a fisherman.

Mr Griffee, who lives in Shelsley Beauchamp in the Teme Valley near Worcester said: “There is also a romance at the heart of the book and some humorous lighter moments.”

Canal Pushers will be the first fictional title to be published by Orphans Publishing of Leominster.

Canal Pushers can be pre-ordered now from orphanspublishing.co.uk Waterstones, Amazon or any good book shop.