HASTINGS NET SHOPS
This post is by way of a teaser. As the third in the series of DI Sonny Russell crime novels, BLOOD ON THE STRAND, is soon to be published, I thought I'd share a couple of paragraphs from the story. Much of the action takes place around the iconic net huts, or shops, at the Rock-a-Nore fishermen's beach in Hastings. The first photo show the huts as they are now, the second, my interpretation on my layout in a winebox, Castle Quay. If you're interested, details of the the first two books in the series are on the right.
The two men were
standing outside Crabbe’s net shop, at the far end of the beach from their own.
Similar structures stood all around, their distinctive shapes like blackened
fingers, pointing towards the night sky. It wasn’t long before the crunch of
boots on shingle announced Crabbe’s arrival. He produced a large key and put it
in the rusty padlock.
Sailor Tedham
and Frankie Drake were sitting outside their net shop. Drake, perched on a
barrel, was splicing a rope while Tedham was perched on an upturned dinghy,
smoking his pipe and looking vaguely into the distance. Drake worked deftly,
using a fid to push the unwoven strands into the rope, quickly fashioning an
eye in the end. When he had finished he put the fid to one side, took a length
of waxed twine and quickly parcelled the splice, finishing by cutting the loose
ends with his knife. As he picked up another rope to start a new splice, a
black Wolseley drew up beyond the further net shop, about a hundred yards away.
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