The Norfolk Murders: Why Bacton Wood?
The plan was always a trilogy for Ashley Knight. I wanted to progress the relationships and some themes throughout all three books. I also knew the second book would be at a Hunstanton caravan park, and the third would start in a wood. I had considered Sandringham, but it has a lot of traffic through it.
Someone mentioned to me that I should do something with the gas terminal at Bacton, which is a huge complex which receives a third of the UK’s gas supply. I looked online and noticed there was a smallish forest nearby, so I went for a drive, and it was perfect. You may have noticed wood and forest being interchangeable here, but you’ll have to read the book to find out about that.
You probably know I’ve been holidaying in Cromer and West Runton for forty years, but I’d never much gone south past Overstrand. So I drove through Trimingham, Mundesley, Bacton, Walcot and Happisburgh. What struck me was that even in late summer it was fairly quiet. There were small roads and paths everywhere, and a distinct lack of CCTV and ANPR cameras.
It’s getting hard to set a book in modern day Britain with us being the most surveilled nation in Europe. I’ve read quite a few books where this is simply ignored, but plausibility is important to me, so Bacton was perfect.
The wood is popular among locals, has many wonderful Giant Sequoias, where the mist hangs between the trunks, but is generally quiet. It’s also in between Cromer and Norwich, so I avoided the Hunstanton issue of Ashley being over an hour from the investigation!
What I also did was add helicopters and car chases, dramatic scenes at Happisburgh’s famous eroding cliffs, torture in Bacton, and even a gunfight on sleepy Overstrand’s peaceful High Street. What did I say about plausibility? 😊
Advance reviews have kindly said this is the best of the three, so please give it a go here: https://mybook.to/bactonwoodsocial