What We’re Writing—Debs’ Vanishing London

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I have been on a listening project these last couple of months. Last summer I made myself a pledge that I would listen to the audio versions of my books, in order, something I had never done. I had not (admitting shamefacedly) ever really listened to any of the books all the way through, because I would get distracted. I’ve never done a consistent, sequential print reread, for that matter, instead just dipping into the books here and there, checking on a character or a setting or a favorite passage. But I was feeling a real need to experience a sense of flow in the series, to be grounded in it.

Around the middle of August I dug in, starting not at the beginning of the series but about halfway through, with IN A DARK HOUSE, and I am now, ten books later, a couple of hours away from finishing A KILLING OF INNOCENTS. It’s been so interesting, processing the stories this way—it almost feels as if they were written by someone else.

But it’s also been a bittersweet reminder of how much has changed in London. So many of the places featured in the books are gone!

Kitchen and Pantry, the Notting Hill coffee shop where Duncan meets his friend MacKenzie Williams, gone. (And where I had many a lunch and coffee...)

Mr. Christian’s Deli--such a Notting Hill fixture—where Gemma or Duncan could snag wine and cheese for a quick dinner, gone. 

The café across from Earl’s Court tube station where Denis Childs met his handler in GARDEN OF LAMENTATIONS, now a Gregg’s.

The piano bar in Kensington High Street, gone. As is the oyster bar in the big Whole Foods there, closed during the pandemic.

The 12 Bar in Denmark Street, where Andy Monahan first plays for Melody in THE SOUND OF BROKEN GLASS, gone. 

Even Scotland Yard’s iconic building in Victoria Street is gone! (Scotland Yard in now headquartered in the Cecil Green building on the Thames Embankment.) Notting Hill Police Station is closed, as is Lucan Place in Chelsea.

At least some of my stalwart series locations remain! The Duke of Wellington pub in Portobello Road, check. The Jolly Gardeners in Putney, the pub across the street from Doug Cullen's house, check. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Bleeding Heart Yard, check. The Tabernacle, where Toby has his ballet classes, still there, thank goodness. Holborn Police Station, not sold off by the Met, yet. Whew. Oh, and the Bloomsbury Tavern, the pub in the cover of A KILLING OF INNOCENTS, above, is still there!

I’m a little anxious now, however, that featuring a place in my books might jinx it. At least pubs seem to be a safer bet for staying around!

But aside from the nostalgia for places past, I’ve found the listening exercise to be a great writing prompt, because I can just shift from the scene in the book to the scene in my head.

Fellow Reds, have you had favorite locations in your books vanish? (Rhys, I’d ask you the opposite—are favorite locations from your historical novels still there?)

Reds and other authors, especially those of you who write series, have you ever done a sequential reread? I will now go back to the first book in the series, A SHARE IN DEATH, and read forward again.

Readers, have some of your favorite settings disappeared?

 

And now for more current news! Today I’m in Boston, where I’m very flattered to the Guest of Honor at New England Crime Bake 2023, and I’m hoping to see many of our regular Jungle Red readers this weekend! 

What We're Writing--Debs Finds Her Way

DEBORAH CROMBIE: The last time I was up on our What We're Writing week, I said that by the time my next turn rolled around, A KILLING OF INNOCENTS would be finished!

Oh, oops, well, maybe not quite finished... but almost! Only a few days and two chapters to go, the climax and the resolution.

Resolution, now there's a nice word, and for a while I wondered if I would get there. I'd be the first to admit that I wandered and wobbled through the middle of this book, horribly frustrated by not being able to spend time in London doing essential research, much of  which is just walking the city.  A first visit gives me a general feel for a location.  Subsequent trips let me imprint the specifics, moving the characters through their daily lives in the setting. That's when you find all the fun little tidbits; the best coffee shop, the park with the interesting history, the house where a favorite writer lived. It's where the book comes to life.

For this book, I had a couple of weeks in November of 2019. And THAT. WAS.  IT.

But, eventually, I figured things out, and the first thanks in my acknowledgements will go to--Google Street View! I couldn't have done it without you, Google!

Back in the day, before we were smart, I was wedded to my A-Z.

That's pronounced A to Zed, by the way, and it is the definitive London street map book. I even had this mini version that went with me everywhere. Armed with my AZ and my tattered London Bus Route map, I could pretty much conquer London.

But, thankfully for me, technology has moved on, and virtual reality turned out to be my new best friend. I walked my way around Bloomsbury and Soho with cursor and arrows and zoom. Some of the locations were already familiar, of course, but after a while the lines between what was real and what I'd only done or seen virtually started to blur. (Is that madness, or writing fiction?)

Take this little snippet here, where Duncan is following a clue in Soho:

When he reached Old Compton Street, he was glad to see that I Camisa and Son was just as he remembered it. The deli was busy, and as he waited he breathed in the distinctive aroma of the place. Old cheeses. Cured meats. Coffee, fresh bread. And always the undertone of spices, some familiar—basil, fennel, oregano—some elusive. The place had been here a long time, long enough for the scents to seep into the very fabric of it. He wondered if there was even a ‘son’ anymore.

But whoever was in charge, it was an efficient operation, and when his turn came at the counter, his order was filled quickly. With his ham, mortadella, mozzarella, and tomato on focaccia stowed safely in a paper bag and his coffee in a paper cup, he walked back into Old Compton Street. There he hesitated, his face tilted up to the sun. He’d meant to take his lunch back to Holborn, but the day was still fine and he had a better idea.

He rounded the corner into Wardour Street and was soon seated on a bench in St. Anne’s churchyard, watching the pigeons as he ate and trying not to drip roasted tomato on his best suit trousers.

It was only when he’d finished his sandwich and brushed the crumbs from his lap that he checked his messages. He’d missed a text from Gemma. 

I have actually sat on a bench in St. Anne's churchyard. And the deli, I Camisa and Son, is a real place, but I've never been there. It came up on a list of Best Sandwiches in London, it was in exactly the right spot, and Duncan needed lunch. I figured it looked like the wonderful Mr. Christian's deli in Notting Hill, and smelled like Valvona and Crolla, the famous Italian deli just around the corner from where I used to live in Edinburgh.

And now, just reading that, I'm starving. I Camisa and Son is definitely on my list next trip.

Dear REDS, when you are writing, do you sometimes lose track of which things are real and which things you've made up? 

Readers, I'm sure we've all done that with books we love. On my very first visit to London, walking down Piccadilly, I said, "Oh, look, there's Lord Peter's flat!" And I almost expected to hear the notes from the piano drifting from the building. 

What fictional setting has lived up to your expectations in real life?

A KILLING OF INNOCENTS will be released February 7th, 2023.

YAY!

You can preorder from Amazon here.

And from B&N here. 

Links to Indies will be coming soon!