IT is the most popular event on the bikers’ calendar and this year one of Scotland’s favourite writers has chosen Thunder in the Glens (TITG) in Aviemore for the public launch of her latest book.

Lin Anderson will unveil Sins of the Dead at a Ladies of Harley event on the August bank holiday weekend. The latest mystery for forensic scientist Rhona MacLeod starts during an illegal race in the underground tunnels of Glasgow, when four female Harley-Davidson riders make a horrific discovery – a dead man lying in the darkness, hands together on his chest.

This is a 13th outing for MacLeod and the book was inspired by Anderson’s visit to last year’s TITG with friends from her home village, Carrbridge. She told The National: “A Harley featured in the previous book – I don’t know why but in came a Harley and I felt it was an interesting back story.

“Last year I was sitting at the Cairngorm Hotel having a drink and listening to the music – it’s such an amazing atmosphere and the idea just came to me.

“Sins of the Dead actually opens in Glasgow when the four female Harley riders are racing in the old London Road tunnel illegally and they come across a body and it goes on from there.

“These female riders become, if not the stars of the book apart from Rhona MacLeod, a big feature of it. It then ends in a big scene in Aviemore at Thunder in the Glens.

“There’s a couple in Aviemore – Fran and Jim Anderson who are members of the Dunedin Chapter [Harley Owners Group, the event organisers] and they feature in the book, because I said I was going to have somebody who knew the score, all the arrangements and things ... they were able to give me great advice.”

Last year, Anderson’s book Follow the Dead opened on top of Cairngorm and was launched at the mountain rescue centre there.

She said: “Willie Anderson, the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue leader, helped me a lot with that with the whole world of Cairngorm and climbing and we had the launch at the rescue centre, so it seemed sensible when Thunder plays such a big role to launch the new one at the rally.

“The book is dedicated to the Dunedin Chapter – I couldn’t have written it without them. It would have been madness not to launch it during TITG.”

Anderson will be meeting the Ladies of Harley in Aviemore and will doubtless partake in some of the Bloody Scotland Stirling Gin cocktails created for the occasion.

However, she admits that she is not yet a true member: “No, I’m not. They’re trying to persuade me to go on a ride-out this year so I think I’ll have to succumb – as long as I can get my leg over the bike.”

There are no such fears for George McGuire, the organiser of TITG, which marks its 21st birthday this year, with several headline acts already confirmed, including the Rick Parfitt Junior (RPJ) Band, Gun, the Skids and Maison Hill.

“This year’s TITG is heading for a 3000 sell-out for the indoor music venues at night,” he said. “The mass bike ride-out on Saturday has been extended to enable it to ride through more of the local villages.

“Viisitors will be able to view the bikes up close and personal during the stopover in Grantown-on-Spey.”