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! 

Debs's London To-Do List

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm off to London next Thursday for a three and a half week stay, and I've been so busy the last few weeks (month...) that I've hardly had time to think about what I'm going to do once I get there (other than work...) So I thought I would ramp up my pre-trip anticipation by making a little things-to-look-forward-to list.

And then I realized that not only do most of my much anticipated to-dos include food or drink, or food AND drink, they are also probably a bit weird and very eccentrically personal.

But here goes:

1) I arrive early on Friday morning. For years I flew into Gatwick, so the very first thing on my list was to hit the airport bookshops. If you've never flown into London Gatwick, it's a sort of cross between an airport and a shopping mall, so once you've cleared customs and immigration, you could spend the day shopping before you ever left the airport. I could never wait to see what was on the bookstore shelves that I hadn't seen in the US.  Now, alas, I fly into Heathrow Terminal 3, which is not nearly as much fun. I have to content myself with arriving at Paddington Station via the Heathrow Express, and there I make my first pilgrimage, a visit to the Paddington Bear stall. Now I know I'm really in London.

2) Then, a taxi to my rented flat, one of two this trip. The first flat is in South Kensington, so fingers crossed for a pretty day, and a drive through Hyde Park. Bliss. Arrive at flat (a new one for me), unpack, find the nearest supermarket, buy essentials, which always include a box of Twining's Lady Gray Tea (the English version tastes different than the one you get in the US, I don't know why) and a copy of the Radio Times. The Radio Times is an iconic British thing for me. It's a bit like the American TV Guide, but GOOD. Great photos, fun articles, and of course, the week's TV and radio schedule. I know we get British TV is the US, but we don't get the funky things, the real-life cop shows, the documentaries and gardening specials and game shows, all irresistible stuff. I am so nerdy that I highlight things I want to watch. Then a nap, and dinner somewhere comforting and familiar.

3) Saturday morning, the London MUST DO--Portobello Market. (Again, fingers crossed for a pretty day, although I have done Portobello in sleet and snow.) I am a browser, not a shopper. I make my way down the hill, checking out my favorite antique stalls and shops, stopping for coffee and a croissant at Mr. Christian's deli in Elgin Crescent, admiring the fruit and veg and flower stalls, the giant simmering vats of paella, taking in the aroma of crepes and sizzling sausages, listening to the music from the buskers and the CD stalls. Then, the lunch destination, a tiny place at the very bottom of the market, Falafel King. (The photo above is me at Falafel King a couple of years ago, on a gorgeous sunny day.)

It is, I have no doubt, the best falafel in London. You can't sit inside, but there are a few tables outside where you can enjoy your falafel and fresh lemonade and watch the swirl of the crowds. I can spend the rest of the afternoon working my way back up the hill, and on a very good day my favorite buskers will be playing outside the Duke of Wellington pub, and I can listen while sipping a well-earned G&T.

And from there, oh, London is my oyster. 

I want to watch the scullers from Putney Bridge, and have Sunday lunch at The Jolly Gardeners pub in Putney. 

Covent Garden is a must, with a visit to the London Transport Museum, and tea and a scone at the Covent Garden Kitchen.

Wednesday Evensong at St. Martin in the Fields.

A look in the National Portrait Gallery.

A glass of champagne at Searcy's in St. Pancras Station, just for the atmosphere. As you sip, you can

watch the Eurostar trains depart for Paris or Brussels, and imagine adventures.

A proper afternoon tea at Sketch, just off Regent Street. Very quirky, fun, and delicious.

Lately I've been following a mobile tea van on Facebook. It's called Good and Proper Tea, and it moves around London. I'm determined to track it down.

A visit to Darwin's house in Bloomsbury.

And Daunt's Bookshop in Holland Park.

And Selfridge's, just for fun.

There will be dinners with friends, and hopefully a jazz club or two, maybe even the 12 Bar in Denmark Street.

There will be research, too, although all of the above count as research as well!

But by now my feet are tired, and evenings in with a book and something good on the telly sound just as appealing.

So REDS and readers, if you have been to London, what tops your fantasy to-do list?

And if you haven't, where would YOU start?