Visit locations in The Dark Hours by Amy Jordan

Submitted: 12th January 2025

Visit locations in The Dark Hours by Amy Jordan

So, are you brave enough to venture into The Dark Hours?

There is a serial killer at work in Cork however where the book is set 😉 Author Amu Jordan is here to keep us safe and show us around the city:

Visit locations in The Dark Hours

The Dark Hours Amy Jordan

The Dark Hours is mostly set in Cork. This is my home city, although I live deep in the countryside. I wanted to capture a sense of Julia coming home, which is why I set the story in my home.

Central Cork:

Visit locations in The Dark Hours

Telling the story….

I kept imagining the same scene, chapters 2 and 3, where Julia and her partner Adrian are called to a noise disturbance at a quiet housing estate, only to find themselves in the net of a killer. Julia was very real in my mind. I told a friend the scene, and she remarked that if something like that happened to her, she would never get over it. I realised then that I wanted to explore how something like that might affect someone and change the course of their life. Every time I sat down to write, Julia was there, waiting for her story to be told.

Visit locations in The Dark Hours

Did you go to the place in real life to research?

I set the book where I live, in Cork, but I created fictional names for places I know well. Cork is small – I didn’t want to accidently include a real person in a dark murder mystery! But I did visit the real places. For the scene where Julia comes face to face with the killer in the Carmichael Estate, I walked in the real location at night. There is a low crumbling wall, old trees and metal railings that separated me from the overgrown garden. I took photos and stood there, imagining what it would feel like if someone’s face appeared among the trees and whispered my name.

Being fully immersed in the location every day was an advantage. I wanted to capture the setting of a small Irish village and so much of it came from my own experiences. I hope that I conveyed the real, Irish, familial bond between people, something that can transfer to any small town or village across the world.

Visit locations in The Dark Hours

Where is Cuan Beag?

Julia lives in Cuan Beag, a fictional place where she has sought solace. This is based on a small town near my home, near the sea, called Kinsale.

In the 1994 timeline she lives in Knockchapel with her husband Philip. It’s a place Julia largely overlooks – her sights are set on career progression, on the city, and she is turning away from the life she lived there with Philip.

The setting focuses on people; Julia never feels that she truly fits in anywhere, only with the people in her life – Philip, Adrian, Des, Liz Begley, Mutt. For Julia, the people and her relationships with them are what ground her into any location.

Visit locations in The Dark Hours

Which places/ characters inspired you to create your (fictional) location?

Kinsale is a town on the southeast coast of Ireland, which served as the inspiration for Cuan Beag. It has a picturesque marina and beautiful winding streets filled with restaurants and coffee shops. There is a lovely restaurant there called The Lemon Leaf, where I have seen dogs in a courtyard out the back, which served as inspiration for Annie’s Corner.

Visit locations in The Dark Hours

Another small town in Cork that I am very familiar with is Crosshaven (above). I drew inspiration from there to create Knockchapel, Julia’s home with Philip, featuring a church on the hill and the boatyard where she and Neil Armstrong search for Grace.

The Dark Hours Amy Jordan

Visit locations in The Dark Hours

Interesting to know….

I wanted to explore the idea that we can never truly escape the shadows that follow us. But I also wanted to explore personal growth over time. I enjoyed writing how Julia’s character was moulded by her life.

Finally, when I was writing The Dark Hours, I was interested in exploring the effects of trauma and how it shapes us. Both killers – in 1994 and in 2024 – suffered significant trauma, but so did Julia. Each one takes a different path to ease their pain.

Thanks Amy!