With a little detective work, Robin discovers that suspect Noel Brockbank is living on Blondin Street. She rings up Brockbank’s girlfriend Alyssa Vincent‘s daughter’s (got that?) nursery, pretending to be Alyssa checking to make sure they had the correct address.

“Jesus Christ, Robin, that’s fucking brilliant!” Strike praises her.

Blondin Street is a short street in Bow, London. Both Strike and Robin conduct surveillance on the street, on the lookout for Noel Brockbank. For the Strike TV series, they filmed on Blondin Street, one of the few actual locations in both the TV series and the books.

Shortly after Robin talks to Jeff Whittaker‘s girlfriend, Stephanie, she is attacked by the killer whilst on the phone to Strike. “Strike, who had been standing in the shadow of a warehouse in Bow, keeping watch on Blondin Street, heard Robin’s sudden gasp, the thud of the mobile on the pavement and then the scuffling and skidding of feet on asphalt.”

In chapter 54, Robin takes things into her own hands and goes to Blondin Street. “It was now seven o’clock on a cloudless evening and apart from Robin, who was leaning up against the warm brick wall of the Eastway Business Centre, the scene was deserted. The sun was making its slow progress towards the west and on the distant, misty horizon, at the far end of Blondin Street, the Orbit sculpture was rising into existence. Robin had seen plans in the papers: it would soon look like a gigantic candlestick telephone wrapped in its own twisted cord. Beyond it, Robin could just make out the growing outline of the Olympic stadium.” – Career of Evil, Chapter 54

“…the place lacked character and was devoid of any sense of community. There were no trees to soften the outline of the low, square houses, many of them sporting ‘To Let’ signs, no corner shop, neither pub nor church. The warehouse against which she was leaning, with its upper windows hung with shroud-like white curtains and its metal garage doors heavily graffitied, offered no cover.” – Career of Evil, Chapter 54

When Alyssa arrives, Robin goes to the house and is reluctantly let inside.

Find Blondin Street on Google Maps here: