Falmouth is a coastal town in Cornwall known for its beaches, natural harbour and the Fal Estuary.
After visiting his family in St Mawes, Strike arranges to meet Robin in Falmouth to talk with their soon-to-be client, Anna.
Following an argument with his sister Lucy in the early morning, Strike travels to Falmouth via ferry, having texted Robin to meet him at the Palacio Lounge in the Moor.
On her way from Torquay to Falmouth, Robin stops at a chemist and a Sainsbury’s in Newton Abbot to buy basic toiletries and dry shampoo.
Arriving in Falmouth, Robin searches for a parking space through “streets packed with tourists and past shop doorways accreted in plastic toys and pubs covered in flags and multi-coloured window boxes.” Troubled Blood, Chapter 5
Robin parks in the Moor, an open market square in the heart of the town. “Falmouth boasted some grand old nineteenth-century buildings, one of which housed the Palacio Lounge café and restaurant.”
The Palacio Lounge is described as looking like an old courthouse, with “high ceilings” and “classical proportions” with “garish orange floral wallpaper, hundreds of kitschy paintings in pastel frames, and a stuffed fox dressed as a magistrate.”
When the Lounge was a Magistrate’s court, a fox did actually used to sit in the judges’ area. The stuffed fox that remains in the cafe is called Fredrik. You can see the fox in the photo below. (See it?)
“The clientele, which was dominated by students and families, sat on mismatched chairs.” Robin spots Strike and makes her way through the tables to him.
Strike had ordered a coffee and a croissant, which he’d already finished eating by the time Robin arrives.
Robin goes for a pee and manages to order coffee from a harassed waiter, by which time she had started with a tension headache.
After a conversation in the cafe, Strike and Robin leave for Wodehouse Terrace where Anna and Kim’s holiday home is located.
“Wodehouse Terrace lay on a hill, with a wide view of the bay below. Many of the houses had had loft conversions, but Anna and Kim’s, as they saw from the street, had been more extensively modified than any other, with what looked like a square glass box where once had been a roof.” Troubled Blood, Chapter 6
Strike and Robin discuss the case with Anna and Kim and then leave. They make their way down the steps and through the sunlit garden toward the street. Kim smiles and closes the blue door behind them.
You can find Falmouth on the map below.
You can also follow the Palacio Lounge on Instagram at instagram.com/palaciolounge
