As most readers of the Constable Molly Smith series know, the town of Trafaglar, B.C. is closely based on Nelson, B.C.  I love Nelson. It's a small, quirky, friendly town, smack dab in the centre of the BC wilderness. It's located in a valley, alongside a river, surrounded by mountains on all sides.  There is a certain Brigadoon quality to Nelson.  It is literally on the way to no where.  You have to be wanting to go there, to go there.
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| Outside Big Eddies | 
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| Street scene, with Fleures Des Menthe Restaurant patio on the right | 
A perfect setting, I thought, for a series of crime novels. And thus, Trafalgar was born.  Others seem to agree with me, as there are now several mystery novels set in some fictional version of Nelson. 
I visited Nelson recently, and decided it would be fun to take pictures of the real places that feature in my fictional town.  I posted some last week, and here are a few more.
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| The French Bakery introduced in IN THE SHADOW OF THE GLACIER, and featured in all the other books when Molly Smith moves into the apartment above.  | 
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| Bar of the Hudson House Hotel.  Where Smith meets her childhood friend Nicky in AMONG THE DEPARTED  | 
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| The " Big Black Bridge " | 
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| Big Eddie's Coffee Emporium, site of many meetings. | 
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| The police station (of course) | 
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| A street scene. Picture taken from inside "George's Restaurant" (hard to see, but what makes this "Nelson" is the kids band playing across the street) | 
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| Yup, Castlegar really is known as Cancel-gar, as Smith tells Winters taking him to meet a flight in WINTER OF SECRETS | 
 
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