Nearly 50 local people feature in a new book about Tenby. Nothing unusual about that, except that the 400-page work is a tale of unspeakable horror.

The novel, Black Snow, took Tenby author Malcolm Stacey six years to write. It’s a horror-ghosts-crime blockbuster, described as ‘Dan Brown meets Stephen King.’

Many of the book’s characters are named people, all well-known in Tenby. Real-life local residents find themselves in their town full of murky fog, heavy snow, hidden tunnels, malevolent ghosts, a forgotten crypt, hidden treasure, a sinister graveyard, a haunted mansion and dark woods.

This may be the one of the very few examples of where real people have featured in a horror fantasy novel by an established author.

Also included in the novel are many familiar Tenby institutions and locations. They include the Tenby Observer, the De Valence, Tudor Square, Crackwell Street, St. Mary’s Church, St. Johns Church, Kilgetty, Saundersfoot, Church House, the Croft, the Harbour, South Beach, Castle Hill and more.

Black Snow is now on Amazon Kindle for £1.99 and the print version is on sale everywhere from £7 to £12.

Geoff Allport, a landscape gardener and builder, one of the first local residents to read Black Snow, said: “The book is very atmospheric and imaginative.

“It was a strange experience to read it and suddenly find myself there in the story. Luckily I’d been warned by Malcolm I was going to meet a sticky end.”

Malcolm has written nine books, including two best-sellers, Armchair Tycoon and SuperScrooge. Most of his working life he was an investigative journalist with BBCTV and Radio Four. He’s made at least 5,000 TV and radio programmes.

He has also written comedy and drama for the BBC. He’s had a life long interest in ghost stories and spooky TV programmes like the Outer Limits.

Malcolm currently writes on stocks and shares on shareprophets.com where he he’s had up to 80,000 readers a week.

In 2000, he moved to Tenby from Islington and lives in the centre of town with his wife Jo and two cats.

Malcolm said: “As well as being a marvellous centre of holiday fun, Tenby has always seemed to me a rather spooky place. It’s crammed with old buildings, narrow passageways and sits on a network of hidden tunnels. It’s a town full of unsolved mysteries and an ideal setting for a tale of the supernatural.

“What I wanted to do was re-visit all the sinister themes and creepy atmospheres of the best Victorian novelists and bring them right up to date in Tenby.

“We’ve made a lot of friends in the town and to make things appear more authentic, I wanted to include some of them in the book. But though their correct names are used, their thoughts and actions are, of course, pure fiction.

“However, all those characters in Black Snow who are real people show nothing, but the highest motives.”

He added: “I’ve been told that only the brave would want to read my novel at bedtime.

“But though I’ve certainly tried to make it frightening, I’ve also wanted to write an intelligent supernatural story. Sadly that is quite a rare thing, these days.”

Despite its mainly modern setting, Black Snow also explores the history of Henry VII and Sir Jasper Tudor, both of whom have links to Tenby. Some hidden secrets of St. Mary’s Church are also featured.

There is a very dark villain with an unearthly gang of strange helpers. But a difficult woman with a mysterious past recruits Tenby residents to thwart his evil scheme. If they don’t succeed, the town is doomed.

Malcolm adds: “It’s a Tenby tale of fast-moving suspense and action you might never forget.”