All the stories in this book either fed into or grew out of the year I
spent as crimewriter-in-residence on the St. Peter's Riverside Sculpture
Project in Sunderland, 1993-94. At the time it seemed as though it had
to be one of the strangest jobs in the country; retrospect assures me
that I was too cautious in my judgment, and it was in fact the strangest
job in the known universe.
The thread that links the stories making their first appearance in
Blood Waters with those previously published elsewhere is that all are
very firmly set in geographical locations, and all feature death by the
water.