Murder on the Rocks

Travel Guide

Travel around Wales with Murder on the Rocks

Cardiff : 
‘Cardiff had put their Christmas lights on in December, so they hung extravagantly between buildings and on lampposts, creating the atmosphere that everybody adored, whether they liked to admit it or not. People walking the street were huddled against the cold, their coats done up as far as they could go and scarfs hiding their faces. It was hard to believe there had been a murder only tonight.”

“I always love those deer statues,” Vanessa commented as they drove past Cardiff Castle. A Christmas tree was decorated with lights, and there was a cluster of giant reindeer statues that lit up a golden yellow.’

‘They drove down Cathedral Road, where big houses had been turned into office spaces. They passed a new block of flats being built, where the price tag on a single bedroom was extortionate. A few moments later, they found themselves outside a Home Bargains, on Cowbridge Road East.’ – Jordan Jenner, the lead in Murder on the Rocks, lives in flats above Home Bargains on this street.

Trevethin, Pontypool: ‘He got to Pontypool and climbed the mountain roads to Trevethin, the main area in Wales to be in poverty. Down one of the streets, the satnav told him he had finally arrived. Once parked on the side of the road – another great thing about valley parking was no permit was needed – he locked his car and walked past the broken wooden fence towards a house that was half-painted and flecked with damp.’

‘Jordan sat in his car, staring out at a foggy Christmas day in the Welsh valleys. He felt the bitter cold of frost seeping through his closed windows, attacking his car and freezing the exterior with each brush of Jack Frost’s finger.’

New Inn, Pontypool :’He drove away from Trevethin, leaving Kim and Joseph behind for now. He dropped out of the valleys and made his way to New Inn, passing a petrol garage with a miserable-looking worker inside. He drove past Pontypool and New Inn’s train station, which had once been a key part in the coal trade, and carried on through New Inn, passing houses that were rather spacious and good looking, all with twinkling Christmas lights in the front.’

‘Jordan stood outside the Lower New Inn with a burning cigarette in his hand. He did not smoke, but he wanted to observe the pub. He was opposite it, leaning against a wall as the barman through the window went about his job.’

Caerleon, Newport : ‘Peter turned up a side street in Caerleon. The houses here were petite and unique, the Roman layout of the street still evident even today. There was barely enough room for cars, which is why they were one-way streets, and as Peter parallel parked in a narrow alley, Jordan held his breath. Annabelle’s house was the first in a small community. All of the houses here had window ledges that were uneven, doors that you had to crouch to get into, and cobbled footpaths leading around to the small, back garden.’

Chepstow : ‘The next morning, well fed and slightly hungover, Jordan arrived at the address Sally had texted him that night. He had wanted to meet her then, but she had said no. He was now sat outside a rather-large detached house in Chepstow. His car parked on a pebble driveway, he looked up at the Victorian architecture and wondered what he was doing here.’