The Vanishing: The Renee MacRae case

by Steve MacGregor

This updated edition includes the original book in addition to new chapters covering the trial of William MacDowell in September 2022 and subsequent events. That trial provided additional information not previously made public, though it still left unanswered questions about this baffling and tragic case.

In November 1976 Renee MacRae, the estranged wife of a millionaire Inverness businessman, vanished with her three year old son, Andrew. No-one could have guessed then that, more than forty years later, we still wouldn’t be certain what happened to Renee or her son.

This became Scotland’s longest running missing person case and it involved a massive, expensive and recurring police effort. There have been a great many theories about what happened to Renee, why and where her body and that of Andrew may have been concealed.

What there haven’t been, until now, are any books about this fascinating case. For the first time here you can read details of what we do know and theories about what we don’t know. So, let’s travel back to 1976, and to a dark, isolated and lonely Highland road…

130 pages, Paperback

Published January 21, 2018

About the author

When I was around twelve years old, I decided to share some important information with my father: I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. 'I'm going to be a writer!', I told him. He thought for a moment before replying: 'Don't be an idiot, boy. You'll be needing a proper job.'

And he was of course entirely right. I did need a proper job. Or several of them, because I never did find a career that fully engaged my attention. But all the time, I secretly still wanted to be a writer. I was lucky - I was able to find writing jobs with magazines at first and later with web-sites and they kept me happy when most of my proper jobs simply made me tired.

Now, I'm even more lucky. My two children have finished University and are becoming frighteningly grown-up. My wife (who, unlike my father, has always supported my desire to write) and I have been able to spend several years travelling the world and living and working in some delightful places including Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Italy before settling in Spain.

And now, finally, I can develop the career I always wanted - as a writer. I write blogs and articles for websites, I have clients for whom I write and edit in places as different as Vietnam and Australia and I finally have the chance to write book length fiction and non-fiction.

If you have read any of my books and enjoyed them, please take the time to complete a short review on Amazon and let others know why. If you have comments or questions on any of my books, please e-mail on stevemac357@gmail.com.

Reviews

[Kimberley]

An interesting case and a nice look into the background of Renee's life and to what happened. I enjoyed the way it was written and finished the book in a couple of hours.

[Phil Altimas]

When a mother and her son go missing Scottish police do all they can to find them, or do they?
did the police had the murderer, if they are dead, in their sights all along

it's a real eye opener