While Strike is away in Cornwall, Robin visits Leamington Spa when she gets a lead that a person they’ve been searching for, Paul Satchwell, is having an art show at The Leamington Spa Museum and Art Gallery.
One interesting fact about Leamington Spa is that one of the founders was named Benjamin Satchwell, no doubt providing JK Rowling with the perfect name for Paul Satchwell. Though Robin does not visit this location in the book, there is even a pub named The Benjamin Satchwell located just up the street from where Robin’s hotel was.
To read more about Benjamin Satchwell click here.
You can click the links to find our more detailed location pages below.
Robin’s first stop in Leamington Spa is to visit All Saints church where Margot Bamborough had allegedly been seen after her disappearance.
Robin next has coffee at The Old Library pub and then walks the area.
“Trying to walk off her memories, she crossed a small stone bridge spanning the slow-flowing River Leam, which was spotted with clumps of duckweed, and passed the colonnade of the Royal Pump Rooms, where Satchwell’s exhibition would open the following day.” Troubled Blood, Chapter 45
“Striding briskly, her hands in her pockets, Robin tried to focus on the Parade, where shopfronts disfigured what had once been a sweeping white Regency terrace.” Troubled Blood, Chapter 45
Robin then heads back to her hotel at the Premier Inn.
The next morning Robin visits the art exhibition at the Royal Pump Room.
As Robin and Paul Satchwell leave for lunch in the Land Rover, Satchwell points out the statue of Queen Victoria in front of the Town Hall.
“‘Whereas this place … the Victorians ‘ad their wicked way with it,’ he said, and as Robin reversed out her parking space he said, looking up at the moss-covered face of a stone Queen Victoria, ‘there she is, look, miserable old cow,’ and laughed. ‘State of that building,’ he added, as they passed the town hall.'” Troubled Blood, Chapter 47
Robin also learns from Satchwell that Leamington Spa is the birthplace of the occultist Aleister Crowley. This is of particular interest to her, given the case’s connection to astrology and the occult. Satchwell takes her to Clarendon Square to show her where Crowley was born.
“Minutes later, he directed her into Clarendon Square, where tall white terraced houses, though now subdivided into flats, retained a vestige of their old grandeur.”
“‘That’s it, where he was born,’ said Satchwell with satisfaction, pointing up at number 30. ‘No plaque or nothing. They don’t like talking about him, the good people of Leamington Spa.'” Troubled Blood, Chapter 46
Here’s an overhead shot of the places Robin visits while in Leamington Spa. Note the marked locations: Premier Inn, Gallery and Museum (Royal Pump Rooms), All Saints Church and The Old Library.
Find Leamington Spa on the map below: