Garvestone is a village in the Breckland district of Norfolk, approximately fourteen miles west of the city of Norwich.

Strike travels to Garvestone Hall, a fictitious building (its description inspired by several buildings in the area) to interview the family of Alexander Graves, the Stolen Prophet of the Universal Humanitarian Church.

“His sat nav guided him along a series of narrow, winding country lanes, until he finally saw his first signpost to Garvestone. Three hours after he’d left London, he entered the tiny village, passing a square-towered church, school and village hall in rapid succession and finding himself out the other side barely three minutes later” (Ch 38).

A quarter of a mile beyond Garvestone he spotted a wooden sign directing him up a track to his right to the hall. Shortly thereafter, he was driving through the open gates towards what had once been home to the Stolen Prophet” (Ch 38).

Although Garvestone Hall is fictitious, in about the right place is the entrance to Whinburgh Old Hall.

“… he reached the gravel forecourt in front of the hall, which was an irregular but impressive building of grey-blue stone, with Gothic windows and a front door of solid oak reached by a flight of stone steps. He paused for a few seconds after leaving the car to take in the immaculate green lawns, the topiary lions and the water garden glimmering in the distance” (Ch 38).

Garvestone’s famous son is Edward Wright (1561-1615), mathematician and cartographer to Elizabeth I who was educated at Gonville and Caius College Cambridge, the college attended by Vikas Bhardwaj in The Ink Black Heart.

Garvestone is located here: