Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Welcome to Castle Kidbury – a pretty town in a green West Country valley.
Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death
What you need to know before your trail
Castle Kidbury, like all small towns, hums with gossip but now it’s plagued with murder of the most gruesome kind. Jess instinctively believes that the hippyish cult camped out on the edge of town are not responsible for the spate of crucifixions that blights the pretty landscape. Her father, a respected judge, despairs of Jess as she infiltrates the cult and manages, not for the first time, to get herself arrested.
Rupert Lawson, a schooldays crush who’s now a barrister, bails her out. Jess ropes in a reluctant Rupert as she gatecrashes the murder investigation of DS Eden. A by-the-book copper, Eden has to admit that intuitive, eccentric Jess has the nose of a detective.
As the gory murders pile up, there’s nothing to connect the victims. And yet, the clues are there if you look hard enough.
Travel Guide
Devon (in red) and Cornwall
Castle Kidbury
Somewhere in the West Country – Fictional but oh so charming! The authors themselves say:
“We spend a lot of time in the West Country – especially Dorset and Devon. We love market towns, neither city nor village. Castle Kidbury is our idealised mash-up of several places. It has a market cross, a square and two pubs.”
From the novel itself:
“Sundays in small market towns have their own special atmosphere, of bells and hush and a sense of waiting.”
“ Cobbles, so beloved by tourist, were hazardously slick after the morning’s rain . Jess braced herself for the parade of ‘old faces’ that would come thick and fast. Cambridge was Gotham city compared to this back water; she’d rather liked the anonymity.”
Approaching the square, Jess ticked off the familiar shopfronts. Phoenix Antiques, Dalby Butchers, Lynne’s Minimart. then onto Fore Street and there, untouched, was Dickinson’s Books.”
The West Country is a loosely defined area of south-western England. It normally describes the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and sometimes includes the cities and areas of Bristol,Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. The authors recommend trying Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, or Somerset as “All these counties have Castle Kidbury-esque towns.” “Stow-on-the-Wold, Sherborne, Bradford on Avon in particular”
Another feature of this area are the distinctive regional dialects and accents
The author Thomas Hardy set all of his major novels here but he called the area “Wessex” after the medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom
The final word from the author” The best pictures are in the reader’s head.”
Booktrail Boarding Pass: Jess Castle and the Eyeballs of Death
Destination : West Country, Cornwall, Devon “Castle Kidbury” Author/Guide: MB Vincent Departure Time: 2000s
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