DC Spiller’s books, The Devonshire Crime Thrillers, and Dan and Alan’s adventures in The Devonshire Mysteries are all almost all set in the local area, and I sometimes like to scout out locations.

In Exeter the other day, I was thinking about the grittier world of DC Spiller and decided to look for the seamier side of the city. Heavily bombed in WWII (as you’ll know if you’ve read Accomplice to Murder) Exeter is a city of contrasts. Beautiful old buildings and picturesque streets of small shops are surrounded by hastily built, and rather boxy, concrete and brick buildings with all manner of designs.

As we walked through the area known as Sidwell, I thought back to Dan and Alan’s first story in A Study in Stone. The area and the legend of Saint Sidwell, a figure known by variants of that name, e.g. Sativola, figure in the story, and I thought how great it would be to capture a picture of the woman herself.

I looked up and there she was, portrayed on the side of a building. I don’t recall seeing that image before, but that might just be my memory playing up. At any rate, it was a nice surprise, and I included a couple of photos below, along with my location-scouting shots.

I hope you find them interesting.  

There she is! Saint Sidwell herself.

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