This week, it’s my good self with the last of my own blogs before handing over to a successor as blog manager next month. So here goes –

When I started to plan the third Inspector Chard mystery I knew I wanted to do something different. His first two adventures had the Shropshire-born policeman settling into South Wales, finding that he loved the area and the people. Surely this is where he would stay? But he had secrets to hide. The real reason for having left his previous post had yet to be revealed. There had to be a way to reveal all.

I decided the story would bring him back to Shropshire, but what would the core of the plot be?

As it so happened, I noticed a social media article about the local prison, The Dana. It had closed operationally some time ago, but is now used as a film set, for escape rooms and a variety of other uses. There is also the opportunity to take a tour, so one afternoon I did. I found the experience both interesting and discomfiting. The narrowness of the main cell block felt oppressive and the execution room was chilling. Bodies of those hanged in previous centuries had been exhumed from the courtyard, but I can see why ghost tours of the buildings have been successful.

So, suitably inspired, I decided Chard would end up there, accused of murder. He would of course need friends to help him clear his name. Having them come from south Wales would be a nice twist, showing them, instead of Chard, having to adopt to a different social environment. As to exactly where the narrative might lead I wasn’t entirely sure. Perhaps a tour of nearby locations would help to inspire me further.

As it turned out, a week of pleasant little drives left me spoilt for choice. I settled on a ruined abbey, a stately home,

a sunken garden in my local town park, a ruined Elizabethan mansion (at night),

 and an archaeological dig on the site of a former Roman city.

How did it turn out?

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Born and educated in South Wales, Leslie worked in local industry before travelling widely across the UK during a career in the Civil Service. His first novel was inspired in part by his Italian and English ancestors having settled in South Wales in the late nineteenth century. A keen fly fisherman and real ale enthusiast, he lives close to the Welsh border, in the county town of Shrewsbury.

His next novel ‘Flames of Anarchy’ will be published in May 2024.

Read more about Leslie Scase at Seren Books
https://www.serenbooks.com/author/leslie-scase

and on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/InspectorChard