This week Crime Cymru’s Mark Ellis gives us a run through of the locations in his frank Merlin World War 2 Detective series
While Frank Merlin is obviously the principal star of my series, coming up close behind is the series location, wartime London. The vast majority of the action in the books takes place in London, though a variety of other locations do make an appearance. Among them are Paris, Moscow, New York, Berlin, Warsaw, Buenos Aires and Lisbon. In two instances, those of Warsaw and Moscow, I made my first visits to the cities specifically for book research. The cities both feature in Merlin 2, In The Shadows Of The Blitz (formerly Stalin’s Gold). As a general proposition I like to have personal experience of the places I write about. If that is not possible, Google Earth is not a bad cheat. I learned the geography of the French town of Vichy and other places that way.
My latest book, Dead In The Water, takes place in August 1942. London has survived the appalling horrors of the Blitz but continues to suffer severely from the harsh conditions and deprivations of war. Large swathes of the city are in ruins, there is strict rationing of food, petrol and clothing. There is the blackout. And crime is rampant.
Merlin, of course, never gets away to any of the more exotic locations mentioned above. It is the war and he is stuck in London. But he does get around the capital quite a bit in the five books (so far) of my series. Chelsea features frequently as Merlin lives there. Westminster naturally as it is the location of Scotland Yard. Other parts of London to feature prominently include Soho and the West End, various parts of the East End, the Thames riverside and the port of London. I make a point of walking the ground of the story locations on London as much as I can. However familiar I may be with a particular spot, mistakes can be made if physical checks are not carried out. For example one of the characters in Dead In The Water lives by the river in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea and there are a number of important scenes in or near his house. I used to live around the corner in Flood Street and thought I knew the area well enough not to have to visit and check. Thankfully, late in the day when I was nearing the end of the book, I changed my mind and went. I found I had made a number of errors. For example, the height of the river wall at that part of the Thames has an important bearing on the plot. I found my estimate was way out and thus was able to amend it and the other mistakes I’d made just in time.
I do a great deal of research before starting my books, concentrating primarily on the specific timeframe of the book in question. I’ve already mentioned that of my latest book, August 1942. As for the others, my first was set in January 1940, the second in September 1940, the third in June 1941 and the fourth in December 1941. More often than not it is the research which gives me my plot. Ideas may come from a person I have read about, activities or developments in the war or the Home Front, or places. When working on my fourth Merlin book, A Death In Mayfair, my research led me to the wartime British film industry, which was particularly buoyant in that period and boasted almost a score of studios in and around London. One of these studios was based at Bray, besides the Thames near Windsor. It has a fascinating history and is indeed still going strong. I had the idea of basing my story around wartime film stars and producers in a fictional film studio. I set that fictional studio beside the Thames just like Bray.
Going back to Dead In The Water, Soho Square, Chiswick riverbank, Knightsbridge, Harrow, Hammersmith and the city of London were among the domestic locations I scouted in person. Because of the pandemic, I was unable to visit foreign locations like Lisbon, which has an important place in the plot, but did have the experience of several previous visits (and Google Earth) to draw upon. In the draft of Merlin 6, my current work in progress, Merlin’s investigations haven’t yet taken him much further than Central London and the East End but there is the exciting possibility of an upcoming trip to the Midlands!
Surprisingly, despite being a Swansea boy, I have not yet featured any Welsh locations in the Merlin series. I really should get him down to the Gower, where I grew up, to investigate a body or two found among the sand dunes. I have, however, featured one or two Welsh characters in the series and now in Merlin 6, I have introduced a Welsh police officer to Merlin’s team. He is Detective Constable Tecwen Price. His friends and colleagues have obviously already nicknamed him ‘Tec the ‘tec’!
You can read more about Mark Ellis and his work here
Crime Cymru 