Glaswegian chef Ferrier Richardson has turned personal grief into powerful fiction with the release of The Kitchen Vigilante: Justice Will Be Served, a fast-paced thriller co-written with long-time collaborator Alex Meikle.
Released this month, the paperback marks a new direction for Richardson, best known for his successful On a Plate foodculture books, including Glasgow on a Plate, Edinburgh on a Plate, and Northern Ireland on a Plate.
The novel follows Charlie Carty, a chef who rises from kitchen porter to restaurant owner before being pulled into Glasgow’s criminal underworld after his brother is murdered. While firmly a work of fiction, the emotional core of the story is based on Richardson’s own life. His brother Simon was killed ten years ago, a loss that Richardson admits changed him forever. “It put an anger in me that I had never felt before,” he has said, describing how the writing process at times became almost overwhelming.
Simon Richardson worked as a front-of-house manager for Ferrier and was murdered in December 2013. His killer, Luke Quinn, was later jailed for life. The impact of that violence, and the way it reverberates through families, sits at the heart of The Kitchen Vigilante.
Richardson is clear that Charlie is not a psychopath, but a human response to trauma. Alex Meikle helped shape the story and preserve its emotional truth. After nine years in the making, Richardson hopes strong word of mouth, alongside availability in Waterstones, online and on Amazon Kindle, will give the book traction, and possibly even led to a screen adaptation.