The Teign Valley in Devon
The Devon Landscape in Winter
Mrs C and I live in the Teign (pronounced ‘teen’) Valley in Devon, and though our village is too small to boast any mysteries worth investigating by amateur sleuths Dan Corrigan and Alan Hargreaves, I decided to base the fictional village of Embervale right here.
So when you read the books, especially if you start with book 1, A Study in Stone, you can imagine how different this environment is to the one Dan left when he first escaped from London to lick his wounds.
And perhaps you can see why he decided to stay.
It’s a superbly peaceful spot. Yes, it doesn’t have the convenience of city life, or even town life for that matter, but there’s more to life than being able to pop out for a takeaway.
Besides, country folk tend to develop a bit of independence and adaptability, and that do-it-yourself attitude might have appealed to Dan (once he’d got over such shocks as the awful broadband speed, the spotty mobile phone coverage and the truly appalling fact that there is only one pub).
I’ll have to ask Dan about his thoughts when he next comes to hang around in my writing room, peering over my shoulder. The last time he appeared, he took one look at my work in progress, a Devonshire Crime Thriller, and muttered something like, “Oh, you’re still obsessed with that policeman, are you? Well, well.”
“It’s an exciting story,” I wanted to protest, but Dan had already vanished into the imaginary realm from which he came. The nerve of the man.
I’d better get back to 1993 and DC Spiller. He’s shaping up as a detective, and maybe I’m shaping up as a crime writer, but that’s not for me to say.
I hope readers will enjoy it.
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