Hexham as a crime scene

 

Is atmosphere ofplace important in crime writing?

I’ve justfinished the latest Rebus and I wonder if I’m the only one who checks thelocations on my ipad as I read? I used to know Edinburgh fairly well. As ayoung person I linked the city to Mary Queen of Scots and thought it terriblyromantic. A cousin of mine, only a few years older, remarked dourly that it wasa grim, dirty city. A friend who trained as a town planner did his workexperience in Edinburgh and took me to see some of the desperate councilestates that tourist rarely see.

If you read IanRankin’s books, and I own most of them, then Edinburgh is revealed in splendidmisery. The town itself seems to breed the crimes that go on inside itsbuildings and has done for centuries. The history reeks of witchcraft, murder,grave robbers, back stabbers and their stories seem to rise out of the sootystones of the city.

So yes, I thinkplace is important and I’m wondering if Hexham is appropriate as a setting formurder. Has there ever been a murder in Hexham? It seems there has. Records ofmurder in the twelfth century, and more through the ages right up until HollyNewton died in January this year. I doubt there’s anything I can do will to makethe pretty little market town of Hexham seem as grim as Edinburgh. There are ancient buildings, such as the Old Gaol, built in 1333 from stones taken from the Roman site at Corbridge. Surely those stones have memories? Maybe they can be made to give them up...