False Tide: A Scottish island crime thriller

by Phillip Strang

Nobody drowns on a falling tide.

Four hours a day, the North Ford is ground. The rest of the time it is under six feet of black water.

When an old man is found face down in four inches of it at dawn, everyone on North Uist says the same thing in the same he knew that ford better than any man living, and it is always the ones who know it. DI Cat MacNeil writes it in her report and believes it for three weeks.

Then a constable and a set of tide tables prove it could not have happened. The water was going away from him the whole time he lay there. There was no tide to misjudge.

Cat is a Uist woman policing an island where her name buys her nothing, and the more she is right, the fewer doors are open to her. What she finds is a community trust bled quietly for nine years, a dead chairman whose signature is on every page of it, and a young bookkeeper whom everybody agrees went to Glasgow one January, and whose mother has been telling people otherwise ever since.

Nobody lied to her. That is the worst of it. An island can hand you a false thing in good faith, and go on handing it to you every day, and be entirely certain — about a tide, about a thief, about a boy.

Fourth in the DI Cat MacNeil Hebridean Mysteries. Each book stands alone.

256 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 21, 2026

About the author

Phillip Strang is a crime fiction writer with over 150 novels published across multiple series. Born in Sydney, Australia, he has spent much of his life travelling extensively — installing telecommunication networks across remote regions of Africa, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. That experience of working in difficult, culturally complex environments shapes his writing: his books are grounded in real places, real tensions, and believable characters under pressure.

His main series are DI Keith Tremayne (Salisbury and rural Wiltshire), DCI Isaac Cook (London), DI Sarah Lynch (Scottish Highlands), Natalie Campbell, Alex Harlan, and Maya Thorne. Between them, they span village murders, urban homicide, remote Highland crime, and beyond — all with the same focus on detectives who don't give up, whatever the politics thrown at them.

He is married and lives in Australia.

Find him on Facebook: facebook.com/PhillipStrangWriter and Instagram: instagram.com/phillipstrangauthor

Reviews

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

False Tide: A Cat MacNeil Hebridean Mystery (The DI Cat MacNeil Hebridean Mysteries Book 4), my forty-eighth read by author Phillip Strang, the fourth book in the new Cat MacNeil Hebridean Mysteries series. Strang has been on a roll lately, releasing books almost weekly & introducing new characters in new series. Well-written & well-developed, with a mystery that continually develops throughout the book's length. As always with a Phillip Strang book, a very good read. “I received a complimentary Kindle copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review." Receiving this book did not affect my opinion of it. High on my TBR list is Sabbath Breach: A Cat MacNeil Hebridean Mystery (The DI Cat MacNeil Hebridean Mysteries Book 5), due out on October 2nd. (RIP Marley, January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018). (RIP Marley, January 20, 2014 - July 24, 2018).

[Annemarie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two lives lost and four lives forever changed, all because of the actions of one person. What started as a "one off" to be rectified by year's end, became an easy thing to do whenever the need arose. All was well and good until the person whose signature was on all the documentation got wind of what was happening, and an accountant looked too closely at the figures and went to the wrong person for advise. Cat and her team really have their work cut out for them on this.

I received a free Advance Reader Copy of this book from the Author and have chosen to leave a review.

[Christmas Angel]

If you are following this series this is the best book yet. Honestly, I stayed up all night until I finished it. Cat just wouldn't give up and neither did I. A book you'll enjoy far into the night.
Highly Recommended.

[Susan Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent series! It gets better with each book. This was a very complex investigation with explanations of tides and also peat. Cat perseveres even though told to close the investigation. I also love the locations.

[Lee Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

That Steele is just amazing. I have loved listening to him and watching him. I sure hope he shows up again and again. Cat is pulling her hair out trying to figure this out and I'm so glad it's not me!! This was really quite a story and it was amazing. The author did such a great job.

[Manie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A man died in the sea whilst the tide was going out and the sand became visible around the body.
More so, the dead man knew the tide. Very well.
So, logic dictates that he would not have been committing suicide there.
How come then he died?
How come a Uist communal society had been defrauded for nine years?
This is where DI Cat MacNeil starts questioning things silently. And my astonishment grew as her investigation turns out to be brilliantly conducted midst so much contrary.
Author Phillip once again plotted a brilliant detective thriller that had me burning the light quite late to find out if Cat can solve this puzzler.
Enjoy!