For me there’s something pulse-poundingly creepy and yet utterly fascinating about abandoned places, and that makes them the perfect setting for a crime novel.
I’ve had a love of abandoned places ever since I was a child. Back when I was young, my Nanna took me to visit the long forgotten Italian gardens in the grounds of Halton House, Buckinghamshire. The stately mansion had originally been owned by the Rothschild family (complete with private zoo, tropical gardens and the Italian-inspired gardens) but after being given to the Ministry of Defence in the war and turned into an RAF base; the outer gardens had been long forgotten. To my child eyes the secret gardens were like entering another world.
Nature had reclaimed the once manicured lawns, trees had grown through the iron rose pagodas, toppling many to the ground, and the once trained roses had spread, winding their way across bushes and trees, untamed and free.
I stepped through the wrought iron gates (luckily open a few feet) and stopped. The white and pink marble mosaic path was almost entirely covered with brambles. At the far end stood the summerhouse, a beautiful stone building with a domed roof. Slowly we made our way along the overgrown path towards it. I was in awe. Creepers had wound their way inside, curling up the walls, through the cracks in the plasterwork, and across the fresco painted ceiling. It was like no other place I’d seen.
I didn’t get the idea of uses abandoned places as a setting until many years later. That happened when I was taking a cruise down the Thames and spotted an abandoned film studio across the water. The fenced off grounds, and the boarded up windows got my mind whirring. What would it be like to go inside the old studios? What would you find there?
In that moment, from those questions, I got the idea for the opening of You Die Next – a group of urban explorers breaking into an abandoned film studio and stumbling into a murderer’s kill room. I pulled out my phone and frantically tapped some notes.
As research for the book I’ve watched videos posted online by explorers far more daring than I. I’ve seen them riding Ferris Wheels at long abandoned theme parks, exploring derelict old mansions, and climbing through the half-built levels of urban high-rise construction.
But when I think of abandoned places something always draws me back to the beauty of the abandoned garden at Halton House. Over the thirty or so years since I first went there with my Nanna I’ve been back many times. I’ve seen the awe-inspiring power of nature as she’s continued to reclaim the place as her own. I’ve noticed how one-by-one all the rose pagodas fell, how the mosaic path began to crumble, and how after one particularly ferocious storm a tree branch fell onto the summerhouse and the domed roof caved in.
I wanted to go back when I was researching You Die Next, and I tried to, but was unsuccessful. In recent years the security on the RAF base has been raised higher and the opportunities to get access are near on impossible. Perhaps if I had the tenacity of the group of urbexers in You Die Next I would have succeeded. As it is, the sign ‘Attack dogs on patrol’ put me off!
You Die Next by Stephanie Marland (Published by Orion Publishing)
When a group of urban explorers stumble across a murderer's kill room in a derelict film studio, terror strikes. And when one of the group is found dead, the team realise - they're being hunted. DI Dominic Bell is investigating the murder, but as the body count rises, time is running out. The only person who can help him is a figure from his past, Clementine Starke - but Clementine is haunted by her own demons. Can the two of them pair up to catch the killer? Or is it already too late?
The trailer for You Die Next can be seen below.
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