Tottenham Court Road is a road close to Denmark Street. The major thoroughfare is mentioned frequently in the series. It joins at a junction with Charing Cross Road, Oxford Street and New Oxford Street.
In The Cuckoo’s Calling
The roadworks are frequently mentioned in the books. All the fuss in this area has to do with the building of the Crossrail – a major new rail line that runs beneath the vicinity and is now known as the Elizabeth Line, named after our late Queen.
In Part 3, Chapter 9: “The junction of Tottenham Court and Charing Cross Roads was still a scene of devastation, with wide gashes in the road, white hardboard tunnels and hard-hatted builders. Strike traversed the narrow walkways barricaded by metal fences, past the rumbling diggers full of rubble, bellowing workmen and more drills, smoking as he walked.”
Strike walks past the Dominion Theatre on Tottenham Court Road on his way to The Tottenham pub after leaving Robin in the office on her first day as secretary. There was a statue of Freddie Mercury outside the Theatre, though it has now been removed.
In Career of Evil:
In Chapter 2: “The everlasting roadworks around Tottenham Court Road station had obstructed Robin’s walk to work ever since she had started at the private detective agency in Denmark Street.”
In Chapter 2: “Fighting her way through the rubble on Tottenham Court Road on Monday morning, Robin mentally relived the argument of the previous day.”
In Chapter 8, Robin sits in The Court pub on Tottenham Court Road on surveillance of Platinum, who is working in Spearmint Rhino. The killer watches Robin from the Japanese Canteen across the road.
In Chapter 21: “‘You know… I saw a big bloke in a beanie hat somewhere yesterday, too… yeah, he was in a doorway on Tottenham Court Road. His face was in shadow, though.’”
As mentioned in Chapter 43, Tempest met Kelsey at Café Rouge on Tottenham Court Road, before the events of the book. The café is no longer there.
In episode 1 of the TV adaptation of Career of Evil, Robin is seen walking up Tottenham Court Road while tailing Platinum, who enters the strip club Spearmint Rhino where she works. Robin is followed by the killer.
In the TV series we also see Robin sitting on a bench just off Tottenham Court Road.
In Lethal White
In Chapter 1, Strike calls Robin from Tottenham Court Road but the call goes to voicemail. “He had to pick his way through the ever-present roadworks at the top of Tottenham Court Road to get back to his office. Waiting until he was past the noisiest stretch, he called Robin to tell her that he had hired Barclay, but his call went straight to voicemail.”
In Chapter 59: “The mess that building works had made of the top of Tottenham Court Road – the rubble-strewn channel where a street had been, the portable railings and the plastic barricades, the walkways and planks that enabled tens of thousands of people to continue to pass through the busy junction – were so familiar to him now that he barely noticed them. He had not come outside for the view, but for a cigarette, and he smoked two while Robin relayed everything that Raphael had told her.”
In Troubled Blood
In Chapter 29: “After a night of intermittent dozing interrupted by prolonged coughing fits, Strike woke on Christmas morning to find his fever unabated, and sweaty sheets tangled about him. His normally noisy flat was unnaturally quiet. Tottenham Court Road was suddenly, weirdly devoid of traffic. He supposed most of the taxi drivers were at home with their families.”
In Chapter 39: “… she emerged into the blustery rain and controlled chaos of the intersection of Tottenham Court Road and Charing Cross Road, at which there had now been building works for three and a half years.”
In The Ink Black Heart
In Chapter 32, Robin picks up Strike in the Land Rover from the office. “The car rolled on up Tottenham Court Road” on their way to the Upcotts’ house.
In The Running Grave
In Chapter 126, Strike and Robin depart on Tottenham Court Road. Strike is going to talk to Abigail Glover, Robin is heading for the Rupert Court Temple.
In The Hallmarked Man
In Chapter 97, in need of a new laptop to search the dark web, Strike goes to House of Computers on Tottenham Court Road.
Find Tottenham Court Road on the map below.
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