Scenes of the crime: Trust No one
Researching scene locations in Sydney
One of the best things about writing is the opportunity to visit places I write about. It’s not easy to do right now and although we can fly to Sydney from NZ, I don’t fancy 14 days of quarantine coming back home. Anyway, when travel wasn’t Covid restricted I went to Sydney to research my 2nd Sasha Stace story, Trust No one.
Sydney is such a great city and offers so many ideas for scenes in crime (and other) stories. When I’m writing I’m trying to ‘put you in’ those places. I’ve included a couple of photos that are scenes in this story.
The photo below shows part of Watson's Bay, the Eastern Bays district of Sydney. It's pivotal to the story - whether lawyer, Sir Lance Donnelly, jumped from a cliff as later claimed in legal documents by Sasha Stace QC, or whether he fell as a result of an accidental slip, as claimed by his widow. Later in the story, Sasha is forced to consider whether he was pushed, which ironically would require a payout to the widow, so long as she wasn't involved.
"The Gap" at Watson's Bay is notorious in Sydney for being littered with places where many people have actually committed suicide. A local man, famous for his personal patrols and suicide prevention is characterised in the book. Sadly, the man known as 'The angel of The Gap' died when I was writing this story. Here’s an interesting reference to this real character.
The building below is Government House, the residence of the New South Wales Governor General. In the first part of the book there are a couple of important scenes which foreshadow all Sasha's professional conflict (she has plenty of personal and inner conflict as well).
After Sir Lance Donnelly dies in the story, the trust board Sasha was part of, celebrated winning a new land development tender for rest homes . I put this celebration in the grand building above. As the story shows, not everyone was able to behave appropriately in this place and Sasha nearly 'baled' from the party when she encountered a vile politician with a penchant for inappropriate jokes and then someone else mistook her for working in an entirely different profession.
Later in the book, Sasha's adversary, Detective Inspector Neville Inskip, and her ally, unorthodox private investigator, Clay Tempero, clash inside St Mary's Cathedral shown below. I remember my editor telling me she was shocked at the revelation between the two characters who met in this scene.
Despite the serenity of the surroundings this scene shows the palpable dislike each character has for the other and the scene proves to be the springboard for more drama and tension between the two and ultimately a final showdown.
Travelling to places where I later imagine scenes is a fun experience. As a result Trust No One was an enjoyable story to write and I reckon an enjoyable story to read.
Please check it out here and let me know what you think. https://www.amazon.com/Trust-No-One-Sasha-Stace/dp/1492762245