Hunter Hunted, Jack Gatland [good story books to read .txt] 📗

names, and over the years I’ve worked with some of the biggest names in books, film and television.

These novels however are my first time writing crime fiction.

An introvert West Londoner by heart, I live with my family and dog just outside London.

One day soon I might even tell you my real name.

Locations In The Book

The locations that I use in my books are real, if altered slightly for dramatic intent. Here’s some more information about a few of them…

The Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers is indeed real, and is one of the many Livery Companies in London that still exist. They often have dinners, but this one was a fictional one.

The George Tavern in Southwark is also a real location, and has held meetings for both The Sherlock Holmes Society and The Dracula Society among many others, in the same back room that the Star Chamber meet in my story. Built back in the 1500s, it was badly damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and rebuilt in the 1670s. Charles Dickens was definitely familiar with The George, having mentioned the inn by name in his novel ‘Little Dorrit’.

The Boxing Club near Meath Gardens that Johnny and Jackie Lucas allow Monroe to stay in doesn’t exist, and neither do the Twins - but the location used is the current Globe Town Social Club, within Green Lens Studios, a community centre formerly known as Eastbourne House, that I would pass occasionally in my 20s.

Hurley-Upon-Thames is a real village, and one that I visited many times from the age of 8 until 16, as my parents and I would spend our spring and summer weekends at the local campsite. It’s a location that means a lot to me, my second home throughout my childhood, and so I’ve decided that this should be the ‘home base’ for Declan. And by the time book four comes out, I’ll have completely destroyed its reputation!

Brompton Cemetery is a real place, and the organisation the Friends of Brompton Cemetery are real people, although I don’t know if they actually have keys to enter!

St John’s Gardens is a real park in Westminster and was a place I’d visit many times in the nineties, when I (not Gladwell) would visit Page’s Star Trek Bar; there was free parking on Saturday nights and Sundays beside it. After the bar was closed and turned into apartments I never visited again, but I’ve passed it on occasions.

The Horse and Guard pub does exist, but under another name; this is The Chelsea Pensioner on the Fulham Road. A pub I’ve been to many times over the years, I didn’t have the heart to blow the actual pub up in the story, and so renamed it!

Not so much a location, but Macneale & Urban not only existed and were a known safe manufacturer, but they did indeed make one of the only letter-based combination safes in existence. That said, they were only four-letter locks, not the eleven letter one of the story. Unfortunately, the company ceased manufacturing in 1903, so any safes found with these locks are now incredibly rare.

Finally, The Fitzroy Tavern does exist and for many years had a monthly Doctor Who fans meet up; in the nineties, when the show wasn’t on, you would often find writers such as Russell T Davies and Steven Moffat there, both of whom would go on to showrun the series when it returned years later. The monthly meetings moved though when the pub was updated a few years back, and I’m not sure if they returned when the pub reopened.

If you’re interested in seeing what the real locations look like, I post ‘behind the scenes’ location images on my Instagram feed. This will continue through all the books, and I suggest you follow it.

In fact, feel free to follow me on all my social media, by clicking on the links below. They’re new, but over time it can be a place where we can engage, discuss Declan and put the world to rights.

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