Every one of my thrillers is set in real places. I visit them, walk them, and photograph them, then twist them into mystery and adventure.
This page lists every book and story and the locations behind it, with links to my own travel articles wherever I’ve written one. It’s for readers who want to see the places, and for travellers who want a thriller set where they’re going.
You can buy my books at JFPennBooks.com or any online store, or order from your local library or bookshop. If you’d rather browse by theme, try Dark Travel, Dark London, Walking, or Gothic Cathedrals.
Twelve places to start
The locations I’m asked about most, with the book each one shaped.
The Paris Catacombs. Six million dead beneath the streets, and the bone crypts of Europe that Morgan Sierra hunts through in Crypt of Bone.
Sedlec Ossuary, near Prague. The bone church where Crypt of Bone reaches its showdown, an hour by train from the city.
Santiago de Compostela Cathedral, Spain. The end of the Camino and a setting in Stone of Fire. I later walked there myself.
Budapest, Hungary. The Dohány Street Synagogue and its memorial garden feature in One Day in Budapest.
Lindisfarne, Holy Island. Site of the Viking raid of 793, and a setting in Day of the Vikings. I walked there on the St Cuthbert’s Way.
New Orleans, USA. Above-ground tombs, voodoo, and the Museum of Death. A setting in Valley of Dry Bones.
Vienna, Nuremberg, and Cologne. My five-day research trip for Spear of Destiny, from the Habsburg treasury in Vienna to Nuremberg and Cologne.
Oxford, England. Home of the ARKANE Institute beneath the Pitt Rivers Museum, and a setting in almost every book from Stone of Fire onwards.
Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Oude Kerk with its corpse flagstones, a setting in Tree of Life.
Bath, England. Where I live, and the Mapwalkers’ home base in Map of Shadows and the rest of the trilogy.
The Hunterian Museum, London. A body among the specimens opens Desecration. More of the city on my Dark London page.
Death Valley, California. The hottest place on earth, and the setting for my thriller Death Valley.
Every book and where it happens
Click a place name to read my travel article about it.
ARKANE action adventure thrillers
Stone of Fire #1 — Varanasi, India — Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, Israel — Oxford and London, England — Santiago de Compostela, Spain — Tabriz, Iran — Vatican City, Rome, Amalfi, and Venice, Italy — Nefta, Tunisia — Tucson, and Oracle, Arizona, USA
Crypt of Bone #2 — Jerusalem, Israel — Oxford and London, England — Kutna Hora, Czech Republic — Evora, Portugal — Paris, France — Palermo, Italy — Karlsruhe, Germany — Ephesus, Turkey
Ark of Blood #3 — Cairo, Abu Simbel, and Sinai, Egypt — Jerusalem, Israel — Washington D.C., USA — Aksum, Ethiopia — Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe — Petra, Jordan — Oxford and London, England
One Day in Budapest #4 — Budapest, Hungary
Day of the Vikings #5 — London, and Lindisfarne, England — Orkney, and Iona, Scotland
Gates of Hell #6 — Oxford and London, England — Barcelona, Cordoba, and Granada, Spain — Safed and the Dead Sea, Israel —Houska castle, Czech Republic
End of Days #7 — Appalachian Mountains, USA — Berlin, Germany — Ouidah, Benin — Megiddo, and Jerusalem, Israel — Delphi, and Rhodes, Greece — Luxor, and Valley of the Kings, Egypt — Oxford, Salisbury Cathedral, England —
Destroyer of Worlds #8 —Mumbai, Agra, Ellora, Delhi, Cochin, and Allahabad, India — Oxford and London, England — Geneva, Switzerland — Vatican City, Rome, Italy — Kigali, Rwanda
One Day in New York #9 — New York City, USA
Valley of Dry Bones #10 — Madrid, Toledo, and Majorca, Spain — New Orleans and San Francisco, USA — Camiguin, Philippines — Lima, Peru
Tree of Life #11 — Amsterdam, The Netherlands — Lisbon, Portugal — Rio de Janeiro and Recife, Brazil — Macau, China — Goa, India — Kingston, Jamaica — Paris, France — Svalbard, Norway
Tomb of Relics #12 —Canterbury Cathedral, Oxford, and Northumberland, England —Krakow, Poland — Cologne, Germany —
Soldiers of God (short story) — Paris, France
Spear of Destiny #13 — Vienna, Austria — Nuremberg, Germany — Washington D.C., USA — Oxford, England — Lhasa, China
Mapwalker dark fantasy adventures
The Mapwalker home base is in Bath, England, where I also live, so it features in all three books. The Mapwalkers journey through maps to reach other places inspired by the following.
Map of Shadows —Poveglia, Venice Italy — Derinkuyu, Turkey
Map of Plagues — Tower of London — Ganvié Island, Benin
Map of the Impossible — Funerary complex, Egypt
Brooke & Daniel crime thrillers
All three books are set in London or nearby.
Desecration — Hunterian Museum — British Museum — Hellfire Caves
Delirium — Imperial War Museum — St Paul’s Cathedral — Kensal Green Cemetery — Parliament at Westminster —
Deviance — Crossbones Graveyard — Southwark Cathedral— Southwark and South Bank — Tate Modern — The Shard
Other stand-alone books
Catacomb — Edinburgh, Scotland
Risen Gods — Entirely set in New Zealand — specifically Christchurch, Franz Josef Glacier, Kaikoura, Picton crossing to Wellington, Tongariro National Park, Rotorua, Auckland, Cape Reinga
Death Valley — Death Valley, California, USA
Short stories
Seahenge — Norfolk, England
De-extinction of the Nephilim — Gobekli Tepe, Turkey
The Dark Queen — Sunken city of Thonis-Herakleion, Egypt
Midwinter Sacrifice — Bath Christmas markets, England