One of the coolest** things about writing stories about a crime-solving librarian is that you get to design and build your own fictional library on the page. In order to create the Vale of York University Library, where my protagonist Kitt Hartley spends most of her time, I took inspiration from the general aesthetic in the city of York, local libraries, international libraries and combined all of that with a little wishful thinking about what my dream book-lending service might look like.
**nerdiest
The Vale of York University Library, as described in the first book in the Kitt Hartley series: Murder by the Minster, is a mock-Tudor building in the style of many that you see in and around the centre of York. I decided to make it five stories high in order to give the impression of a rather grand building that might hold thousands and thousands of books… this is perhaps where my fantasies about an extensive, maybe even never-ending, library bubbled to the surface. What can I say? I was bookish from a young age and I don’t see any signs of this changing.
In terms of the library’s location, there was only one spot I had in mind: the periphery of Rowntree Park which is an area of the city much-overlooked by tourists. When I lived in York, I used to walk five or six miles along the river every day and a highlight was always taking a slight detour into Rowntree Park. It is charming in all seasons and is situated not far from Skeldergate Bridge so is quite convenient for access to the town. All of these trappings seemed to make it the perfect location for a cosy crime novel.
When it comes to the interior of Kitt’s workplace, several features were inspired by libraries in the north of England. The Vale of York University Library’s second floor office boasts a stained glass window depicting a scene from Much Ado About Nothing. Something similar can actually be found above the main entrance of the Central Library in Manchester. If you haven’t visited this library, I recommend it. Below are a few other images from my research trip there that helped me decide on the look and atmosphere of the library in my book.
Whilst in Manchester, I also visited the John Ryland Library which is designed in the gothic style and has a decidedly different atmosphere to Central Library. This somewhat intimidating building inspired details like ornate architraves and spiral staircases in the Vale of York University Library. As it’s a university institution I wanted it to have an air of taking literature of all kinds seriously, even if the characters who work there rarely take themselves seriously!
One of the final touches I made to the Vale of York University Library was to the ceiling. I added a mural above Kitt’s desk that depicted Prometheus gifting humanity with the spark of life. This detail can actually be found in the New York Public Library, which I have visited more than once and found some new nook to explore or event to attend every time. It’s also a little nod to my history as a novelist: my first two novels were set in 1990s New York City. I sort of think of that mural on the ceiling as a representation of my old characters passing the story-telling torch onto my new characters. At times, I can be sentimental like that.
The first six books in the Kitt Hartley Yorkshire Mystery series are available now.