I liken writing a book to a recipe. There are certain key ingredients needed but then we tend to make up our own method. One key ingredient is setting. This world or another? Own country or a different one? Urban or rural? Fictional or real? All these things need to be considered.
When I wrote my very first novel, I wanted a rural location that was still fairly accessible to London. I decided to go west along the M4 corridor and landed on Wiltshire. That particular book will probably never be published but I’ve stayed in the county for my police procedural series. At first glance, it may seem that not very much happens there. I follow Wiltshire Police on Twitter and Facebook and there have been mentions of cows in Devizes and naked cyclists. Although not necessarily at the same time. However, high profile murders and the very public Novichok poisonings in Salisbury have made Wiltshire headline news.
Wiltshire Police headquarters is based in Devizes so it made sense to have DI Bernadette ‘Bernie’ Noel working from there. Bernie is a former Met officer and a lifelong Londoner. It’s not easy for the city girl to adjust to the slower and quieter pace of small town and rural life. Given the chance she’d be back in London but for her own safety she’s been transferred to Wiltshire.
Devizes is roughly in the middle of the county with Swindon to the north, Trowbridge to the west and Salisbury to the south. For Last Seen, I needed two villages and immediately discovered a possible problem. Setting a book in a real place means getting details right and the smaller the location, the more obvious any mistakes might be. Plus, I didn’t want to offend any Wiltshire villagers as the residents in one of my fictional villages don’t appear to be very friendly. So I created Marchant and Otterfield.
Marchant is your typical picturesque country village with pretty cottages, a pub and a beautiful old church. Otterfield used to be similar until it was bombed during the Second World War. Pebble-dashed box houses were built for the residents who were then encouraged by Margaret Thatcher to buy them. ‘They’re a community with a collective chip on their shoulders. Highly suspicious of outsiders’ is how I have a police officer describe them to DI Bernie Noel. This opinion seems confirmed when the residents of Otterfield refuse to help when a five-year-old girl goes missing from the local playground.
The beauty of creating your own setting is that you can do so from the comfort of your own home and there’s always Google Maps for inspiration. In fact, for my second book in the series, that’s how I found my crime scene. Zooming in helped me to find roads and lanes, providing ways in and out. Yet something was missing for me. It wasn’t enough to just see it. I had to experience it.
So we set off for a research trip – the whole family. Top tip: don’t take children on a research trip. But I’m so glad I went. I saw things that you can’t see on a laptop screen but more importantly, I heard and smelt the surrounding countryside. I met a woman walking her dog who told me a very interesting ghost story which will be mentioned in book two. My youngest child drew a picture of police headquarters. We found the best bakery which features quite heavily in Last Seen. I walked around, drinking in the atmosphere and listening to the local accent and phrases. As a lifelong Londoner too, I tried to see it all from Bernie’s point of view.
We have returned for a second trip but it’s fair to say, the rest of the family have had enough now. Personally, I want to go back and stay for a few days, even a week. It’s not just about valuable research. Bernie is so real to me I half expect to see her coming out of police headquarters. And Marchant and Otterfield might not officially be on a map but they’re rooted in Wiltshire for me. Not just two villages with very different architectural styles and atmosphere, but two communities with a shared history that they’re battling to overcome. Who says fictional places can’t be real?
Last Seen by Joy Kulver (published by Bookouture) Out Now
A little girl is missing from under her mother’s nose. She’ll be scared and vulnerable – if she’s still alive. But no one is helping us search. No one wants to give us information. No one even seems surprised. What’s going on?’ Detective Bernadette Noel came to this quiet rural corner of south-west England from London to lie low after a high-profile prosecution led to death threats against her family. But she has barely settled in when the call comes. A woman’s voice, shrill with terror and thick with tears: ‘Help – it’s my daughter, Molly – I only had my back turned for a minute… She’s gone!’ A child abduction is about as far from lying low as it gets, and her boss wants to assign a different detective. But there’s no way Bernie’s not taking the case – she can’t miss this chance to prove herself. Five-year-old Molly Reynolds has been snatched from the playground in the village where she lives. Normally in cases like this the community is an asset – eager to help search and full of local knowledge. But although Molly’s mother Jessica is in anguish, the other villagers don’t seem to want to know.As details emerge, Bernie discovers a possible link to a shocking crime that has never been solved, and which the locals have never forgotten. But what exactly is the connection to Molly’s abduction? Cracking a cold case is the only way to find out – and meanwhile time is running out for Molly.
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