Detective Shaw’s London: Curtis Green Building (New Scotland Yard)

I opened this series of articles with the old New Scotland Yard, which from 1967 until October 2016 was in a building at 10 Broadway, and it seems right to close it with the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, which has occupied a building on Victoria Embankment since November 2016: the Curtis Green Building.

Located along the Thames, more or less opposite the London Eye, the Curtis Green Building owes its name to the architect who designed it in the 1930s: William Curtis Green. It is a white building in neoclassical style built between 1935 and 1940 and which has always belonged to the London Metropolitan Police. It was initially used as an extension of the police headquarters, housing the forensic science and technology departments. Later, when the headquarters was moved to Broadway, it became the Whitewall Police Station until 2010.

The renovation of the building which took place between 2015 and 2016 was designed by Arup (the same company that created the London Eye and the new roof of the departures concourse of King’s Cross Station) and gave it a touch of modernity while maintaining the original structure. On the roof of the new entrance delimited by a glass wall, a sign bearing the words “New Scotland Yard” was positioned, while on its right side the famous rotating sign was installed, taken from the old location. At the other end of the entrance is the Eternal Flame, a flame always lit in commemoration of the fallen officers.

Leaving the Curtis Green Building and crossing the road, you find yourself on the Victoria Embankment riverfront, from which you can admire the buildings on the opposite bank. If, however, you walk in the opposite direction to the flow of the waters of the Thames, you will soon arrive near Big Ben and Palace of Westminster (house of the British Parliament).

While moving to the Curtis Green Building, the Metropolitan Police, as well as taking the rotating sign with them, also moved the Black Museum, which unfortunately continues to not be open to the public.

Obviously, unless you get arrested, it isn’t possible to see the inside of this building, but I think that, given the optimal position, it’s still worth it to admire it from the outside and take some photos (the images in this article are by David Holt CC 2.0).

Having become New Scotland Yard, the Curtis Green Building appears in the last book of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy, “Beyond the Limit”, precisely in this capacity and above all as the headquarters of one of the teams (Eric’s) from Forensic Services of the Metropolitan Police.

Several scenes of the novel are set inside it, which obviously I have never seen and to describe which I relied on my imagination, shaping it to my liking based on the needs of the story (in reality it is substantially different). In the latter we mainly see Eric in his new office, the IT laboratory, the meeting room, and also Jane’s office. To be honest, I don’t even know if there is any section of Forensic Services in the Curtis Green Building (whose main laboratory in London is located in Lambeth Road), in any case I decided to have the characters move within its walls because of its geographical position (in front of the London Eye) and above all because, being a renovated building, it represents the ideal place for a new beginning in Eric’s life.

But to understand what I’m talking about, I’m afraid you’ll have to read the book.

Detective Shaw’s London: King’s Cross Station

One of the most important railway stations in London is located in Camden and represents the terminus of the East Coast Main Line heading to the north-east of England and Scotland: King’s Cross Station.

Originally opened in 1852, it has undergone numerous expansions and renovations over the course of more than 160 years, the latest of which, dating back to 2012, is responsible for its current appearance, particularly the brand-new departures concourse, a semi-circular structure with a steel and glass roof designed by Arup (the same company that designed the London Eye).

King’s Cross station is adjacent to St Pancras International, which is the terminus for Eurostar services from mainland Europe, and below both is the huge underground station of King’s Cross St Pancras, which has more lines running through it than any other station on the London Underground network.

Taken together, these three stations represent a transport hub of the United Kingdom, so it is very likely that you will find yourself in one of them when travelling to London.

 

In particular, if you find yourself taking a train at (or arriving to) King’s Cross Station, remember to pay a short visit to the so-called Platform 9^3/4. It is a ghost platform located between platform 9 and platform 10, which can be accessed by passing through a brick wall (but only if you are a wizard!) and which is mentioned in the Harry Potter Saga. In the past, the sign referring to it and the trolley stuck in the wall were located right near the access to platforms 9 to 11, but in 2012, following the renovation, they were moved near the merchandising shop inspired by the franchise from Rowling’s books. In fact, the scenes in the films featuring the station’s exterior were not filmed at King’s Cross, but at St Pancras.

 

King’s Cross station takes its name from the neighbourhood that hosts it: a central area of London that extends between Camden and Islington. To find out more, take a look at the King’s Cross official website.

“King’s Cross” is also the title of a song by Pet Shop Boy inspired by the station (a bit like what happened with the West End and “West End Girls” by the same band), as a place of arrival for people from the north-east of England in search of work.

 

King’s Cross Station makes an appearance in the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy, specifically in the final book, “Beyond the Limit”. In the late afternoon of 22 May 2017, DI Miriam Leroux and Sergeant Mills rush to the arrival platform of the train coming from Cambridge in search of a woman who may be in the sights of a serial killer.

But I can’t tell you if they find her.

Detective Shaw’s London: the London Eye

Leaving the parliament building behind us and walking along Victoria Embankment, our gaze is immediately caught by an enormous white Ferris wheel located on the opposite side of the Thames, between Westminster and Hungerford bridges: the London Eye.
It is one of London’s newest attractions. Built in 1999 and opened to the public in March 2000, the London Eye is the largest Ferris wheel in Europe and, until the completion of the Shard, it was also the highest point from which you can admire the city.

Leaning over the waters of the Thames, the London Eye is supported by an A-shaped structure, the tie rods of which are anchored over a small area of the Jubilee Gardens.
If we cross the river on Westminster Bridge and approach the wheel, we cannot help but raise our nose more and more as we get closer to it, in an attempt to embrace it entirely with our gaze. Although I have never boarded it (so far), in all my trips to London following its construction (the photos in this article were taken in 2008, except for the last one, which is from 2012) I found myself every time admiring it from below with a slight sense of vertigo.

The ticket office is located in the building almost in front (a little to the right) of the reception for boarding the cabins, in any case, given that it is the most popular attraction in the city (3.5 million of visitors in the year), it is advisable to book your ticket online, on the official website, thus also obtaining a small discount.
The duration of the ride in one of the thirty-two cabins (equipped with interactive guides), which move slowly enough to allow you to get on and off without stopping them, is thirty minutes in total. It is undoubtedly an exhilarating experience, provided that the weather conditions do not reduce visibility.

The London Eye is managed by Merlin Entertainment (the same one that manages Madame Tussauds, but also Gardaland in Italy!) and changes its official name every certain number of years (variable) acquiring from time to time that of its sponsor.

To get to the London Eye, the nearest Tube station is Waterloo, but Charing Cross, Embankment, and Westminster are quite close. The attraction also has a pier, the London Eye Pier, where boats from Thames Clippers and City Cruises stop.

The London Eye plays a very important role in the final book of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy. In addition to being located exactly on the opposite side of the Thames from the Curtis Green Building (new headquarters of New Scotland Yard), and therefore visible even from Eric’s office, the entire area in its immediate vicinity is the location of a dramatic action scene in “Beyond the Limit”, which involves one of the victims of the Plastic Surgeon, but also Eric, DI Miriam Leroux (Murder Investigation Team), Sergeant Mills (Murder Investigation Team) and PC Cora Patel (a new character). However, I cannot tell you more without ruining the surprise of discovering what will happen in this scene and, above all, how it will end.

At night, the London Eye becomes even more beautiful thanks to the coloured lights that illuminate the wheel and the inside of the cabins.

Detective Shaw’s London: Covent Garden Market

One of the most characteristic neighbourhoods of the City of Westminster, located in the east of the West End, of which it constitutes the beating heart, is Covent Garden. Its name derives from a distortion of the term “Convent Garden” since between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the garden of a convent was there, but it is mostly associated with two historical places found within it: the Royal Opera House, which is often simply referred to as Covent Garden, and the Covent Garden Market.

The latter is located in the central square of the neighbourhood, and in the past hosted a real market, the modern version of which was moved to Nine Elms (New Covent Garden Market) in 1974. The current Covent Garden Market is more of a shopping centre, which houses shops, restaurants, and a craft market, called Apple Market.

From a historical point of view, the first evidence of the existence of a market in Covent Garden can be traced back to 1654, but the neoclassical building which represents the current heart of the neighbourhood was built much later: in 1830. In the 1960s, increased traffic became a major problem, prompting the construction of a new building in Nine Elms and the relocation of the market there in the following decade. The old building was then converted into the current shopping centre and reopened in 1980.

For anyone going to London the Covent Garden Market is a stop not to be missed to spend some time listening to live music while drinking something cold or hot (depending on the season), to try one of its restaurants, to make some purchases or, simply, to stop and watch the cheerful comings and goings of people who crowd it every day.

Getting there is easy since on the Piccadilly Line there is a station called Covent Garden, which is a stone’s throw from the market. Another particularly close station is Leicester Square on the Piccadilly Line and the Northern Line.

 

I happened to go there almost every time I was in London (the photos date back to 2011) and so I couldn’t help but mention it in the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy.

In particular, the market is the place where a scene of the final book, “Beyond the Limit”, takes place, in which DCI George Jankowski, Eric’s colleague and also the head of another forensic team, meets a journalist, Burton Phillips, who manages a judicial crime blog and who in 2014 followed the trial against the man believed to be the serial killer called “Plastic Surgeon”. Although the man was convicted and is in prison, the recent murder of a woman at Madame Tussauds suggests that the same killer is behind it.

The conversation between Jankowski and Phillips ideally takes place at one of the tables visible in the second photo above. Precisely this photo inspired me to write the scene, so much so that it is even possible to see the boy mentioned at the beginning as he’s taking a photo of the musicians.

Detective Shaw’s London: West End and Savoy Theatre

In London there is an area that occupies a large part of the City of Westminster and the Borough of Camden Town, and which is simply known by the name of West End (photo of dgmiami, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0). This geographical reference derives from its position with respect to the City, the ancient Roman London, with which it borders to the east, so that in the past this had made it the western end of the British capital. Now, however, the West End is in fact a substantial part of the centre of the current London metropolis.

 

This is a very large area, which includes several places described in previous articles in this series: Marylebone, New Scotland Yard (both old and new), and Leicester Square. But throughout the world, the West End is mostly synonymous with Theatreland, that is, the theatre area, which mainly occupies the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. So much so that the terminology “West End theatre” exists to define the practice of professional theatre in London, which, together with Broadway theatre in New York, represents the pinnacle of global Anglophone commercial theatre.

More generally, the West End is the hub of London entertainment, given the high concentration of theatres, but also cinemas, restaurants and pubs, where you eat, drink, and listen to live music.

West End was also the first name of the British duo Pet Show Boys, who later dedicated the famous song “West End Girls” to this area.

Among the many theatres in the West End is the Savoy Theatre (see photo of the interior of the theatre, taken from WestendTheatre.com), located in Savoy Court, an alley which merges into Strand, the latter is one of the most famous streets in London, which starting from Trafalgar Square reaches the edge of the City. You can get there easily on foot from Charing Cross Tube station or Embankment Tube station.

Today’s Savoy Theatre has the peculiarity of being built below street level, and the hotel of the same name is located above it. Like most London theatres, it develops above all in height, with two circles overlooking the stalls (in total it comprises 1158 seats), reducing the distance between spectators and stage to a minimum, and favouring the enjoyment of the show. Having been there in person in 2008, to see the musical “Never Forget”, based on the songs of Take That, I can confirm it!

 

The site of the Savoy Theatre, however, has a history of reconstruction and renovation that dates back well before 1881, when it first opened. Previously, that same site had had a very different intended use.

In 1246 the Savoy Palace was built there for Peter, the Earl of Richmond, who had been granted the land by King Henry III. Also, the title of Earl of Richmond had been granted by the king to Count Peter of Savoy, uncle of his wife (Eleanor of Provence), and the name Savoy which has survived to the present day derives from him.

 

Nothing remained of that building in the first Savoy theatre, as it was burned down in 1831. Subsequently, a hospital was built on its ruins (1505) until the latter was also destroyed by fire. Only in 1881 would it become a theatre.

Since then its interior was completely rebuilt in 1929, while its subsequent renovation, begun in 1990, suffered a setback due to yet another fire. The last reopening dates back to 1993, in its current form, with which they tried as much as possible to reproduce its original structure.

 

The performances nowadays are always musicals, some repeated for several years in a row. You can purchase tickets directly from the official website of the theatre, but through some online agencies you can often find discounted prices, which allow you to attend beautiful shows with a limited expense.

 

The West End often appears in the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy, however it only has a crucial role in the last book of the series, “Beyond the Limit”, in which we see DI Miriam Leroux and Sergeant Mills driving on the Strand, and we find another important character in Covent Garden Market (but I will talk about this in the next article in the series), but above all this area is literally the scene of a crime, which is committed precisely in the Savoy packed with spectators.

In reality, the crime would take place on a day (on 22 May 2017) in which there was no performance, but this too is nothing more than one of my many artistic licences.

Detective Shaw’s London: Madame Tussauds

I have already talked about Madame Tussauds in the article dedicated to the Marylebone district (which I invite you to read for more information), but I thought that this very famous wax museum deserved another article entirely focused on it, given the crucial role it plays in the final book of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy, “Beyond the Limit”.

It is part of a chain of wax museums, present in twelve different cities around the world, but the first was precisely that of London, founded by the sculptor Marie Tussaud in 1835, the year in which she held the first exhibition of her collection. Currently, the Madame Tussauds museum chain belongs to the English company Merlin Entertainment, which among other things also owns Gardaland in Italy.

I had the pleasure of visiting the museum twice at a great distance in time: once in 1990 and once in 2011. Some parts of the exhibition have not actually changed that much, especially those relating to the reconstructions of scenes from the past, while the waxworks of contemporary celebrities always tend to reflect the fashions of the times and, perhaps, the ageing of public figures they represent. Among the historical waxworks in particular, I cannot fail to mention “Sleeping Beauty”, which seems to be the oldest still on display. It is the work of Tussaud’s teacher, Doctor Curtius, and is dated 1765. This is characterised by a movement of the chest which simulates breathing, just as if she were sleeping, and represents Madame Du Barry.

The exhibition consists of a more or less obligatory path in which different settings are encountered. A particular room is the so-called party room, in which the waxworks are scattered in a large space and would almost blend in with the visitors if they were also wearing evening clothes.

Some are isolated, but others are connected to furnishing elements. There is, for example, George Clooney sitting at a table and visitors can sit next to or in front of him. And place their hand on his. Another particular waxwork is that of Julia Roberts, who is standing behind a chair often placed in front of a table (the arrangements change according to needs), with her hands resting on the backrest. In a sense, the chair is part of the waxwork, for without it poor Julia would fall forward. And on this chair you can sit to take a photo with her.

And precisely, the waxwork of Julia Roberts is the protagonist of some scenes of “Beyond the Limit”. I won’t tell you how, but I’ll leave you the pleasure of discovering it for yourself while reading the book.

While imagining these scenes, I obviously had to take some licence since the arrangement of the waxworks in the museum is changed periodically, and I certainly couldn’t know what it would be on 21 May 2017, the day in which the scenes in question are set, given that I wrote them in November 2016.

Among the other waxworks that are seen (so to speak) in the book there is precisely that of Clooney, but also that of Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Johnny Depp, and Tom Cruise, all in the party room.

The ticket to visit Madame Tussauds in London is quite expensive (at the time of writing, the basic one is 47 GBP), but you can save some money by booking it online. Furthermore, it’s possible to combine it with other tourist attractions, such as the London Eye (which I will talk about in another article), paying a much lower amount than the sum of the two separate tickets.

Inside Madame Tussauds, there is also a sort of 4D cinema (3D plus motion simulation), whose short shows are included in the price.

However, the funniest part of the visit is taking photos with your idols, even cheek to cheek, and discovering that some of them are shorter than you thought, or taller.

In the photos you can see me with George, between Helen and Nicole (how tall she is!), with Johnny, with Julia, and with the legendary Bruce (Wills).

Detective Shaw’s London: Tower Bridge

The bridge over the Thames which more than any other is considered a symbol of London is undoubtedly Tower Bridge, so called because it connects the village of Southwark to the Tower of London, located on the western edge of the borough of Tower Hamlets, on the border with the City.

The Tower Bridge is made up of two towers, connected by a road, which constitutes the central span, and by pedestrian walkways running above it. The former is made up of two mobile portions, which can be raised to allow the passage of taller boats. On both sides there are as many spans, which are proper suspension bridges.

Its construction was completed in 1894, and initially the opening mechanism was powered by steam engines, which remained in operation until 1976. Nowadays, these are replaced by the latest modern technologies, which allow their complete opening in just ninety seconds.
It is also true, however, that the bridge is opened quite rarely (about a thousand times in a year, therefore less than three per day), so much so that it is said that seeing it open brings good luck. However, the Victorian engines are still present within the structure and can be visited.
Pedestrians can also access the high-level walkways (renovated in 2009), which have a glass floor, and from there enjoy a fascinating view of the city and the river. To do this they have to climb almost three hundred steps, but they can also take a lift. The walkways often host special exhibitions and other events.

Access to the Victorian walkways and engine rooms is included in the Tower Bridge Exhibition and is possible upon payment of a ticket, which can also be purchased online. These are open every day of the year, except for 24, 25, and 26 December.

Tower Bridge underwent a four-year renovation from 2008 to make it ready for the Olympics and Paralympics, which were held in London in 2012. In conjunction with these events, their symbols were respectively suspended from the walkways (as you can see in the photos taken by me in August 2012 with the five Olympic rings).
For some strange reason, Tower Bridge is often called London Bridge, in reality this is a mistake, since London Bridge is another very distinct bridge.

You can get to Tower Bridge from the Tower Hill Tube station, from which you can also easily reach the Tower of London, where you can visit, among other things, the English Crown Jewels.

The monument is actually a real castle which in the past also served as a prison (until 1952) and where prisoners were executed, but in its history it had many other functions, including that of a royal residence. For more information on the Tower of London, I recommend you visit its official website, where it is also possible to purchase entrance tickets online with a small discount on the price.

If, however, you want to get to Tower Bridge from Southwark, you have to get off at London Bridge station, which is very close to The Shard (in the third photo in the background, while in the foreground there is a part of the Tower of London; this photo was also taken by me in August 2012).

Tower Bridge also makes an appearance in the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy, and in particular in “Syndrome”. This happens in the same scene where The Shard appears, during which DI Miriam Leroux and Sergeant Mills are the protagonists of a spectacular (in the minds of those who imagine it, hopefully!) car chase ending in an accident on the bridge. To find out who the two police officers were chasing and whether the fugitive was then caught, you will have to read the book.

Detective Shaw’s London: The Shard

In Southwark, not far from the Thames and the City, located on the opposite side of the river, there is the tallest skyscraper in London, third in Europe: The Shard, also called Shard of Glass and 32 London Bridge, which derives from its address (32 London Bridge Street).

There is a lot of Italy in this tower with the shape of an irregular pyramid completely covered in glass: it was designed by the well-known Genoese architect Renzo Piano. Its construction began in 2009 and finished in July 2012, although it only opened the following year.

The last time I was in London was August 2012, for the Olympics, not long after its inauguration on 5 July of the same year, and I was able to admire it from afar, as I wandered near the Tower of London, in the City. The photo above was taken by me during my short stay (the one below is by Cmglee). But I didn’t get close to it, and therefore I didn’t have the opportunity to visit it. However, it is on the list of attractions of this city that I intend to see more closely or perhaps inside sooner or later.

The building is almost 310 meters high and includes 87 floors, of which 72 are habitable. Inside, it houses a variety of premises, including offices, luxury flats, a shopping centre, restaurants, bars, and a five-star hotel, Shangri-La, which includes 202 rooms and occupies floors 34 to 52.

Floor 69 and the terrace on 72 offer an unrivalled panoramic view of the metropolis which allows you to see 360 degrees up to approximately 60 km away.

These are open to the public. The visit is quite expensive, but you can save something by booking it online. For those who live in London or plan to stay there for a long time, there is also the possibility of purchasing an annual ticket which allows you to go up to the terrace every day.

The Shard appears in two scenes of “Syndrome”, the second book in the Detective Eric Shaw trilogy. Both concern a character wanted by the police.
The first takes place inside one of the flats where this character is hiding (I won’t say his name to avoid spoilers about the book).
The second features DI Miriam Leroux and Sergeant Mills sitting in a police car near the entrance to the Shangri-La. The identification of the suspect will lead to a chase through the busy streets of the city, up to another attraction which I will talk about in the next article.

Detective Shaw’s London: Notting Hill

Located in north-western London and almost completely crossed by Portobello Road, Notting Hill is undoubtedly one of the most fascinating and famous districts of the British capital. It’s no coincidence that it is the location of numerous novels and films. Among the latter, the best known is undoubtedly the 1999 romantic comedy that bears the same name of the district (“Notting Hill”) starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.
It is obviously a tourist destination, but very popular with Londoners too, thanks to the abundance of designer shops, particularly in Westbourne Grove, and the numerous pubs and restaurants.

 

Its most characteristic street is Portobello Road, which with its colourful facades hosts the famous antiques and fresh food market. Here are also some locations used during the Portobello Film Festival, an international independent film festival founded in 1996 where every year more than 700 films are screened for the first time. And moreover, George Orwell lived in this street.

Since 1966, every year in August the district has also been the scene of the Notting Hill Carnival, a real Caribbean costumed party that pours into the streets, attracting millions of people, and which represents one of the biggest street festivals in the world. The event passes through the central part of Westbourne Grove.

As you might guess from the name, Notting Hill stands on a little hill, which reaches its summit in the middle of Ladbroke Grove. However, it has no official boundaries. It is located within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, but is close to the boundary with the City of Westminster, so at a stone’s throw from Paddington train station and not far from many other central London attractions.
But if you don’t want to walk, you can reach one of the five Tube stations inside it: Kensal Green, Westbourne Park, Ladbroke Grove, Latimer Road, and Notting Hill Gate.

What is considered the key area of Notting Hill is North Kensington, characterised by a constant renewal of the population, largely made up of immigrants, which make it one of the most cosmopolitan areas in the world. This is where the most violent acts of the Notting Hill race riots of 1958 took place, but it is also where its carnival began and where most of the scenes in the film starring Grant and Roberts were filmed.

Up until a few years ago, among the numerous and well-known restaurants in Notting Hill there was one in particular: an Italian restaurant called Negozio Classica, even if the name in Italian doesn’t sound good at all, and it’s not clear what it means. It was wedged into a building at the corner of Portobello Road and Westbourne Grove and was characterised by a red facade with shop windows on both walls, from which it was possible to see the inside of the place and its patrons, but several tables were arranged outside, too. More precisely, it was a winery, where, however, you could also eat dishes from Tuscan cuisine.

The restaurant Negozio Classica makes an appearance in the second book of the Detective Eric Shaw Trilogy, “Syndrome” (set in 2016), in a scene where Eric Shaw has lunch with his friend Catherine Foulger and discusses with her some serious facts (mysterious illnesses and an attempted murder) which took place in the St Nicholas Hospital (which in reality does not exist). The dishes mentioned in the scene were actually present on the menu of the restaurant, but the two characters have no way of enjoying them properly, since their conversation leads to an argument. The name of the restaurant is not actually shown in the scene, although its description and location details allow for easy identification. However, it is then mentioned later in the book.

The place used to open at 3.30 p.m., so in theory people didn’t go there precisely to have lunch. In fact, I took an artistic licence here, but the place looked so nice that I really wanted to set a scene there. We also know that Eric is always so absorbed in his work that he often finds himself eating at unconventional hours, when he remembers to do so, so he may have gone there shortly after its opening. Who knows?
I’ve never been to this place, but Eric thinks the food is good. It’s really a shame it doesn’t exist anymore!

Detective Shaw’s London: Italian Gardens and Hyde Park

The Royal Parks are among the most atmospheric places in London. Some of these are located in the centre of the British capital, yet if you walk inside them, you lose the perception of the swarm of people and cars that are just a few hundred metres away. Immersed in greenery, among flowers and watercourses, you cannot see or hear the nearby metropolitan chaos. The illusion of being in a wild territory is broken by the paths, the well-kept lawns and plants, the statues, and the wonderful fountains.

Particularly fine among the latter are those found in the Italian Gardens, situated at the point where the Kensington Gardens adjoin Hyde Park, north of the Long Water basin. You can get there through the entrance called Lancaster Gate, which is near the Tube station with the same name.

Built in 1861, they are said to have been a gift from Prince Albert to Queen Victoria. The gardens consist of four Carrara marble basins, adorned with fountains, statues, and urns. North of the pools is the Pump House, which once contained the steam engine that powered the fountains. And the pillar sticking out of the roof is nothing more than a smokestack. The basins are home to beautiful swans, which allow themselves to be observed carelessly by Londoners and tourists who stroll beside them or sit on the benches located all around.

The Italian Gardens have also appeared in famous films such as “Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason”.

Moving eastward, the immense Hyde Park begins, with a total area of 253 hectares, bisected by Serpentine Lake. Its dimensions are such that it is really easy to lose your sense of direction if you don’t follow the indications and maps distributed in numerous signs inside it.

It contains numerous places of tourist interest, starting with the two triumphal arches located to the southeast and northeast: Wellington Arch and Marble Arch. Near the latter is the Speakers’ Corner, where people, especially on weekends, still give speeches to express their opinions. To the south is the memorial to Lady Diana and to the southeast the one to the victims of the holocaust and the London bombings of 7 July 2005. Also, to the southeast, is the Rose Garden, which is especially beautiful to see in early summer.

The park is also the only one controlled by the Metropolitan Police, which has their own station inside it. There are also deck chairs and umbrellas, a sports centre dedicated to tennis, boat rental services, commercial premises, bars, other sports fields, and playgrounds. 

Furthermore, the park is often the scene of important rock and pop concerts, including artists like The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and Madonna. In it, in particular, one of the most famous concerts of Queen was held in 1976 with 225,000 spectators.

Hyde Park was also one of the venues for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Italian Gardens and Hyde Park make their appearance in the second book of the Detective Eric Shaw trilogy, “Syndrome”. A young prostitute realises she is being followed by a man for whom she did a small illegal job and hides near the Pump House of the Italian Gardens, then runs away towards Hyde Park, heading to a playground, to ask for help, but she will soon find death. Later, we see Adele Pennington, Jane Hall and Miriam Leroux at the crime scene, where Adele spots someone who may be the suspect.

Detective Shaw’s London: Leicester Square

Any fan of the big screen visiting London can’t help but visit Leicester Square. This pedestrian area is in fact home to two major cinemas in the United Kingdom: the Odeon Leicester Square and the Empire Leicester Square (which includes 9 theatres, one of which has the largest screen in the country). The Odeon West End used to be there too, but now it’s closed, while nearby is the Prince Charles, which is a repertory cinema.

This peculiarity means that this square often sees important actors and directors parading in front of the public and media representatives on the occasion of the European or even world premieres of important films. I myself once, in the autumn of 2004, while passing by Leicester Square by chance, came across the UK Premiere of “Garden State” as part of the London Film Festival and saw Zach Braff and a freezing Natalie Portman on the red carpet.

Leicester Square is located in the West End (in the City of Westminster), right in the heart of London. Within walking distance it is surrounded by other places of tourist interest such as Trafalgar Square, which the National Gallery overlooks (entrance to the permanent exhibition is free), and Piccadilly Circus, with its famous statue of Eros. In the centre of the square is a small park, which was renovated in 2012 for the Olympics.

Many restaurants of the most varied nationalities dot the entire area, which is particularly busy at night during the weekend and in general in the summer. And then there are the West End theatres (about forty in all Theatreland), where famous musicals are staged for several years in a row. The last one I saw was “Chicago” in 2011 (yes, it’s been a while). Tickets can be a bit expensive, but if you buy them in advance on the web you can get away with a few tens of pounds.

Right near the square there is the Leicester Square Theatre, which, initially built as a church in 1955, became a location for live music concerts in the 1960s, changing its name several times. In 1976, when it was still called Notre Dame Hall, it hosted one of the first Sex Pistols concerts.

The casino Hippodrome and the headquarters of Global Radio, inside which there are eight radio stations, also overlook the square.
Leicester Square is also one of the places in London where events are organised on the occasion of the Chinese New Year.

The nearest Tube station is called Leicester Square, and in “The Mentor” (the first book in the Detective Shaw trilogy) DCI Eric Shaw and Adele Pennington actually arrived at it on a Saturday in June 2014, and then went to eat at a nearby restaurant. That impromptu date would mark the transition from a simple working relationship to the beginning of something else between the young forensic investigator and her boss.

After dinner, they would sit on a low wall, exactly in the same spot where I sat in August 2012, a few months before writing the first draft of the novel, and took the second photo you see in this article.

I really think that, the next time I go to London and stroll in Leicester Square, I’ll look around almost hoping to see them passing by.

Detective Shaw’s London: Buckingham Palace

In the centre of the British capital, in the heart of the City of Westminster, surrounded on three sides by Buckingham Palace Gardens, Green Park and St James’s Park, we find the official residence of the sovereign of the United Kingdom: Buckingham Palace, also simply called The Palace.

Despite being a relatively young building, its de facto name is used to refer to the British monarchy itself.

The palace fulfils this role since 1837 and is also the administrative office of the monarch, King Charles III. It covers an area of 77,000 m2 and includes something like 775 rooms.
Just in front of it stands the Victoria Memorial, a huge sculpture depicting Queen Victoria on one side and angels on the other three, all surmounted by a statue of winged victory surrounded by two seated figures. Beyond this monument starts the long street called The Mall which connects the building to the Admiralty Arch, beyond which is Trafalgar Square.

Buckingham Palace is undoubtedly an important tourist destination for those visiting London. During the summer the State Rooms, which are 19, are open to the public.
It is possible to obtain more information on the visit of the State Rooms, of the Royal Mews and the Queen’s Gallery on the website site of the Royal Collection, where you can also book tickets and find out about current exhibitions.

But a ceremony that particularly attracts tourists throughout the year is the changing of the guard, a real parade that takes place between the square in front of the palace and its internal courtyard.
The photo on the left was taken by me during one of these events in 2008, but you can see more in the official profile of the British Monarchy on Flickr, to realize how suggestive they can be.

 

The Palace, The Mall, Green Park and the Changing of the Guard also appear in “The Mentor”, in one of the posts on Mina’s blog, where our serial killer walks on the long street and finds herself in the crowd of tourists, while tailing Christopher Garnish. The sequence then continues and reaches its epilogue in Holloway.
Buckingham Palace is also very close to the former site of New Scotland Yard and St James’s Park Tube station, which, again in “The Mentor”, is the scene of a chase of Garnish himself by Eric Shaw and DI Miriam Leroux.

The whole area surrounding the palace includes other places of tourist interest, such as 10 Downing Street (home of the Prime Minister), the Houses of Parliament with its famous Big Ben, the Westminster Abbey and the Westminster Cathedral (the Catholic one; appearing in another book of mine, “The Isle of Gaia”, not available in English yet).

Contrary to what many believe, Buckingham Palace does not belong to the King, but it is a state asset, however the presence of the monarch is signalled by the waving of the royal standard (as in the photo that shows me in front of the palace in 2011 and in that of winged victory; it cannot be distinguished well because it is small, but I assure you that the flag that you see waving is actually the standard). In his absence, since 1997, this has been replaced by the flag of the United Kingdom, the Union Flag, which is flown at half-mast in the event of royal or national mourning.

In addition to every changing of the guard, which especially on Sundays attracts many people, the square in front of the palace was invaded by a much larger crowd during the Coronation of King Charles III on 6 May 2023, and previously during the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II in 2002 (50 years of reign), the Diamond Jubilee in 2012 (60 years of reign) and the Platinum Jubilee in 2022 (70 years of reign), celebrated a few months before her death.

Concerts were organized during these events, and some artists played on the roof of the building for the jubilees. Notably in 2002, Brian May, guitarist of Queen (the band, not Elizabeth!), played the UK national anthem from the rooftop “God Save The Queen” (lately changed into God Save The King), the song with which the British band usually concludes each of its concerts, accompanied by Roger Taylor and other musicians on stage in the square.

Detective Shaw’s London: Holloway

On the edge of the Borough of Islington lies the district of Holloway, which is one of the most densely populated in London and home to a multicultural population. It is crossed by Holloway Road, which is part of A1, Britain’s longest numbered road (actually outside the city it becomes a motorway).

The district, which is mostly residential, has no particular tourist attractions, with the exception of the stadium of the Arsenal football team, the Emirates Stadium (in the first photo, where you can also find me, and in detail in the photos below, both taken in March 2011), which with its 60,000 seats is the third largest in London, after Wembley (I went there the following year for the Olympics) and that of Twickenham (where, however, rugby is played).

The Emirates Stadium is located exactly in Ashburton Grove, the name by which it was called before taking that of the sponsor (Emirate Airlines), in the same area where a scene from “The Mentor” narrated in Mina’s blog takes place.
During the scene, our favourite serial killer follows Christopher Garnish to the house where he is hiding, where she risks being seen by PC Mills (who in “Syndrome” we find out he was promoted to the rank of sergeant), also on the trail of the suspect in the murders. The characters arrive in the area, however, from Arsenal Tube station, which is in the adjacent Highbury district.

The house where Garnish is really exists. If you read its description in the book, after following the route taken from the station, and glance at Ashburton Grove with the street view on Google Maps, perhaps you might be able to spot it.

Holloway also returns in “Syndrome”, this time to show a scene where DCI George Jankowski meets a police informant. The detective in charge of the forensics team dealing with crimes taking place in Islington (a colleague of Eric’s in the same rank, Detective Chief Inspector) is near Holloway Road Tube station and follows the informant with his car into a side street.

Two more interesting places are mentioned in the scene. The first is the North Campus of London Metropolitan University (in the third photo, by Alan Stanton, you can see the Orion Building which is part of it). The university is also called simply London Met and includes a second campus in the City.
The second is The Studios Islington (now called Studios Holloway) and it is a complex that includes offices, commercial premises, restaurants, and creative spaces.

In “Syndrome”, I also tell something more about the history of the Holloway district. In this regard, I mention the fact that it was the scene of a famous real crime at the beginning of the last century: the bloody murder of Cora Crippen by her husband, even if it is now questioned whether he was the murderer (later sentenced to death and executed). Unfortunately, the truth will never be known.
I reported it in the novel also because I had the pleasure of reading a book that narrates it in parallel with the biography of Guglielmo Marconi. I am referring to “Thunderstruck” by Erik Larson, a fictionalised essay that narrates how thanks to the radio-telegraph invented by Marconi the police managed to capture Hawley Harvey Crippen, who was fleeing to America with his lover. The captain of the ocean liner in which he was travelling warned Scotland Yard, and Crippen found the police waiting for him upon his arrival in Canada, one step away from being able to disappear forever.

Holloway was also the home of Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”, and is still home to many artists, journalists, authors and other people who work in television and film industries, including actress Kaya Scodelario, star of the Maze Runner series and of the fifth film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series (with Johnny Depp).
HMP Holloway Prison, which later became a women’s prison, is also infamous because Oscar Wilde served in it.

In the fiction of “Syndrome”, Holloway is also home to the Murphy family, who own a chain of pubs and a drug trafficking network. I hope the Irish don’t hate me for choosing surnames and names that bring Ireland to mind, even if this is never specified in the book. As I said, this is absolutely fictional. I don’t actually know if there are a lot of Irish (or descendants) in Holloway, but I made sure there is no pub named Murphy’s Den.

It is also a coincidence that, in both books, the bad guy has to do with Holloway. I swear I did not notice this until I finished writing the first draft of the second book!