Location, Location, Location

When I first decided I wanted to write a series of cosy murder mysteries, it had more to do with needing a break from the dark, psychological thrillers I was working on at the time.

I never dreamt they could be so enjoyable to write. I don't have to think about strong sex scenes because there are none in the books, I don't have to consider grisly descriptions or bad language because, again there is none of either in the books. It's all character and logical deduction, even if some of that logic is a bit shaky now and then.

I do, however, have to consider location. In most of my work the location is either fictitious (The Handshaker, Spookies, The Dead Web) or a combination of fictitious and unnamed (Voices [currently unavailable]).

The town of Sanford is also fictitious and loosely based on the Castleford area of West Yorkshire, but for the most of the time, even though the hotels and street names may be fictitious, the Sanford 3rd Age Club stay in real towns and cities; places I've visited, places with which I have a particular affinity

 

Filey, is named in the title of the first novel, The Filey Connection, and I've written enough about it for everyone to know how much my wife and I enjoy that part of the Yorkshire Coast.

 

 

I set A Halloween Homicide outside York, mainly because I wanted a supposed haunted hotel in the middle of nowhere, but York is another place we  really enjoy. Whether it's for the St Nicholas Fayre coming up to Christmas, or a day visit on a sparkling summer Saturday, we love the great variety of shopping in modern, air-conditioned malls or ambling through the nooks and crannies of the older buildings in the area around the minster.

 

 

In A Murder for Christmas, The Sanford 3rd Age Club passed the festive season in Leeds. I was born and raised in Leeds and even if it has changed all out of proportion to my young days, I wanted to capture the atmosphere of Briggate, Vicar Lane and Kirkgate markets before embroiling Joe and his chums in another murder mystery.

 

 

 

 

In the near future, I have two more locations to add. For the I-spy Murders I chose Chester. Crooked {Cat} Publishing have this title under consideration and I'm hoping it will be accepted as the next in the series. I opted for Chester because, first, I didn't want another seaside location so soon, and secondly because like York, Chester is a wonderful, varied city, with a history dating back to Roman times. It combines the vibrancy of the modern without losing its sense of the past.

 

Finally, in the not too distant future, we'll see the gang shoot off to Lincoln for Murder on the Murder Mystery Weekend. This is a tough one to write. I have to have a play within a play, with an 'imaginary' murder, and then confront Joe, Sheila and Brenda with the 'real' murder. Two separate plots in one book. So why Lincoln? Because, again, like York and Chester, it harks back to the time of the Roman invasion. Lincoln cathedral is a magnificent building, certainly on a par with York and Westminster. The only problem I ever had with Lincoln, was getting up that hill to the Minster. I took a bus. I haven't yet worked out how Joe's gonna do it.

In the future, I'd like to see the Sanford 3rd Age Club shoot off to Cornwall for a week on a caravan park, spend a few days in Torquay, pass a weekend in Whitby, visit the Canary Islands and take a ferry to Amsterdam, but for now I'm content to see them trawl through the grand cities of the North of England and the East Midlands.

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The Filey Connection, a Sanford 3rd Age Club Mystery, is published by Crooked {Cat} Publishing and available for the Kindle at Amazon UK and Amazon Worldwide and in all other formats from Smashwords.