Creating characters is vital to any story, as is building the locations and places they frequent. Characters must live, work, eat, and breathe, otherwise they’ll perish in literary purgatory and never come alive. Thankfully, in the WinDarl cosy mysteries, there’s a myriad of locations allowing our cast to get involved in the plot.

The adventures of Jon Windup and Wendy May (or Windy & Darling, TA) take place in the fictional county of Treetonshire in England’s south-west. Think rolling hills, lush greenery, and picturesque, cosy villages. A pastoral paradise, if you will. Taking a wander in the woods, you may be lucky enough to spot a red squirrel, or be tickled by a couple of fullucking pheasants. If not, simply admire the marvellous meadows and fertile farmland in this lush paradise locals call Treet. Among panoramic, natural beauty is the bustling county town of Treeton, home of Jon Windup. It’s also the home of Treeton Police Station, which is second home to detectives, DCI Slate and DS Uttley, aka iBrow & Strutt.   

Though he enjoys living in Treeton, Jon is passionate about the countryside and longs to live in a quaint cottage, like his sparring partner, Wendy May. In Deadly Dough, we find Wendy housed with Jon in Treeton after the Mel Water burst its banks and flooded her home. In Fatal Fungus, Wendy’s back in Bogie, with a completely renovated home and gardens. She loves her rural retreat so much, she’s happy to risk the moody Mel playing up again.

In the heart of Treet stands the imposing, historic Biggin Hall, known locally as the Big House, the residence of Lord Seymour Biggin-Smythe, his four children, and second wife, Lady Lucinda. She also has an impressive cottage in the woods—a present from His Lordship—and extremely handy for romantic trysts he knows nothing about. Or does he? One gets to the hideaway by road, or via a public right of way, skirting farm fields and wondrous woodland.

Most of Deadly Dough takes place in Honest Tor (Tor), an idyllic village orbiting the county town. Like all eight villages on Treeton’s periphery making up Linkville, Tor has several whimsical places, the spotlight focusing on a historic hilltop village pub, the Noose & Gibbet, a centuries-old former coaching inn, whose beer garden features a grisly reminder of Tor’s macabre past.

Noted for its hospitality and soul, Beans & Leaves is the local coffeehouse, serving a staggering array of brews from around the world. A chapter in Deadly Dough, bearing the quirky title of Chagachino Choux-Choux, sees Adam Brown, barista extraordinaire, revealing his new medicinal mushroom concoctions. Tor’s other places of note are Brambles, Prue Penn’s gorgeous, thatched-roof cottage, St Mark’s church and cemetery, where it’s said the illustrious pirate, Patcheye Peg, is buried under a gnarled yew, and Half-Baked, owned by the Browns, where, some might say, the wackiest fillings ever to grace dough, fill breads of every shape, size, and flavour. Patrons who dare will never eat a “normal” sandwich again.

Fatal Fungus centres on Bogus Hole, affectionately known as Bogie. Sakura, Wendy’s beautiful cottage and garden, is the place that dreams are made of, and so called because a stunning line of cherry blossoms flanks one side of Triple Tree Marsh, the road on which it stands. There’s even a blossom planted in Wendy’s back garden. The delicate pink blossoms hide a gruesome past as the main hanging site where wronguns met their maker. The tree, or triple tree, was the gallows, a horizontal, wooden triangle supported by three legs (known as a “three-legged mare” or “three-legged stool”).

Every country village has a local watering hole, and Bogie’s no different. The Brock & Sett has a less gruesome background to the Noose in Honest Tor, but is still historic as a former coaching inn, now a B&B, managed by Eddie Rutter, wife Gina, and the resident pub cat, Mr Quince. Bogus Hole also has a Bean & Leaves, run by tea queen, Kate Brown, wife of Adam, a cricket ground, home to the Bogie Bowlers, and a bigger church and cemetery, St Peter’s. As the bigger sister of Tor, Bogie offers more shops, a small doctors’ surgery, and a village hall, with a new owner struggling to shed his city ways. The twice-weekly farmers’ market is a big attraction, despite an organic, bespoke cabbage costing a tenner. When the story starts in early November, the giant Christmas tree takes pride of place in the market square.

When our amateur sleuths aren’t trampling the cobblestones of Bogie, Tor, or one of Linkville’s other villages, you might find them taking a break from the countryside and gallivanting around the nation’s capital. Schmoozing with the sites of Old London Town, including Hyde Park—Speaker’s Corner being one of Wendy’s favourite spots—the shops of Knightsbridge, Parliament and Big Ben, London Bridge, or attending cookery classes in swanky hotels. The capital isn’t short of must-see sites where our fearless friends can spend a few days. But, it’s not all fun, games and chilling out. Not for bloodhound besties on the trail of dastardly deeds and villainous villains.

I’ll leave you with a question. How does a pie auction in an elysian village unfold into a murder investigation? Answer. Read Fatal Fungus.

That’s me away.

Ark

Creating characters is vital to any story, as is building the locations and places they frequent. Characters must live, work, eat, and breathe, otherwise they’ll perish in literary purgatory and never come alive. Thankfully, in the WinDarl cosy mysteries, there’s a myriad of locations allowing our cast to get involved in the plot.

The adventures of Jon Windup and Wendy May (or Windy & Darling, TA) take place in the fictional county of Treetonshire in England’s south-west. Think rolling hills, lush greenery, and picturesque, cosy villages. A pastoral paradise, if you will. Taking a wander in the woods, you may be lucky enough to spot a red squirrel, or be tickled by a couple of fullucking pheasants. If not, simply admire the marvellous meadows and fertile farmland in this lush paradise locals call Treet. Among panoramic, natural beauty is the bustling county town of Treeton, home of Jon Windup. It’s also the home of Treeton Police Station, which is second home to detectives, DCI Slate and DS Uttley, aka iBrow & Strutt.   

Though he enjoys living in Treeton, Jon is passionate about the countryside and longs to live in a quaint cottage, like his sparring partner, Wendy May. In Deadly Dough, we find Wendy housed with Jon in Treeton after the Mel Water burst its banks and flooded her home. In Fatal Fungus, Wendy’s back in Bogie, with a completely renovated home and gardens. She loves her rural retreat so much, she’s happy to risk the moody Mel playing up again.

In the heart of Treet stands the imposing, historic Biggin Hall, known locally as the Big House, the residence of Lord Seymour Biggin-Smythe, his four children, and second wife, Lady Lucinda. She also has an impressive cottage in the woods—a present from His Lordship—and extremely handy for romantic trysts he knows nothing about. Or does he? One gets to the hideaway by road, or via a public right of way, skirting farm fields and wondrous woodland.

Most of Deadly Dough takes place in Honest Tor (Tor), an idyllic village orbiting the county town. Like all eight villages on Treeton’s periphery making up Linkville, Tor has several whimsical places, the spotlight focusing on a historic hilltop village pub, the Noose & Gibbet, a centuries-old former coaching inn, whose beer garden features a grisly reminder of Tor’s macabre past.

Noted for its hospitality and soul, Beans & Leaves is the local coffeehouse, serving a staggering array of brews from around the world. A chapter in Deadly Dough, bearing the quirky title of Chagachino Choux-Choux, sees Adam Brown, barista extraordinaire, revealing his new medicinal mushroom concoctions. Tor’s other places of note are Brambles, Prue Penn’s gorgeous, thatched-roof cottage, St Mark’s church and cemetery, where it’s said the illustrious pirate, Patcheye Peg, is buried under a gnarled yew, and Half-Baked, owned by the Browns, where, some might say, the wackiest fillings ever to grace dough, fill breads of every shape, size, and flavour. Patrons who dare will never eat a “normal” sandwich again.

Fatal Fungus centres on Bogus Hole, affectionately known as Bogie. Sakura, Wendy’s beautiful cottage and garden, is the place that dreams are made of, and so called because a stunning line of cherry blossoms flanks one side of Triple Tree Marsh, the road on which it stands. There’s even a blossom planted in Wendy’s back garden. The delicate pink blossoms hide a gruesome past as the main hanging site where wronguns met their maker. The tree, or triple tree, was the gallows, a horizontal, wooden triangle supported by three legs (known as a “three-legged mare” or “three-legged stool”).

Every country village has a local watering hole, and Bogie’s no different. The Brock & Sett has a less gruesome background to the Noose in Honest Tor, but is still historic as a former coaching inn, now a B&B, managed by Eddie Rutter, wife Gina, and the resident pub cat, Mr Quince. Bogus Hole also has a Bean & Leaves, run by tea queen, Kate Brown, wife of Adam, a cricket ground, home to the Bogie Bowlers, and a bigger church and cemetery, St Peter’s. As the bigger sister of Tor, Bogie offers more shops, a small doctors’ surgery, and a village hall, with a new owner struggling to shed his city ways. The twice-weekly farmers’ market is a big attraction, despite an organic, bespoke cabbage costing a tenner. When the story starts in early November, the giant Christmas tree takes pride of place in the market square.

When our amateur sleuths aren’t trampling the cobblestones of Bogie, Tor, or one of Linkville’s other villages, you might find them taking a break from the countryside and gallivanting around the nation’s capital. Schmoozing with the sites of Old London Town, including Hyde Park—Speaker’s Corner being one of Wendy’s favourite spots—the shops of Knightsbridge, Parliament and Big Ben, London Bridge, or attending cookery classes in swanky hotels. The capital isn’t short of must-see sites where our fearless friends can spend a few days. But, it’s not all fun, games and chilling out. Not for bloodhound besties on the trail of dastardly deeds and villainous villains.

I’ll leave you with a question. How does a pie auction in an elysian village unfold into a murder investigation? Answer. Read Fatal Fungus.

That’s me away.

Ark