Mystery of the Night Watchers by A.M. Howell

Mystery of the Night Watchers is the third book from A.M. Howell. Readers have previously enjoyed The Garden of Lost Secrets and The House of 100 Clocks. This newest adventure will see the arrival of Halley’s Comet in 1910. A.M. Howell shares her inspirations with us!

The stories behind the buildings: looking up to find inspiration for stories.

As I plotted my first draft of Mystery of the Night Watchers, I spent many hours wandering around Bury St Edmunds mapping out where my characters might have walked as they tried to solve the unwinding mystery. On one of these walks, I passed The Subscription Rooms, now known as The Athenaeum, which was built in the 1850s for social occasions and meetings (Charles Dickens gave a six-chapter reading of David Copperfield there in 1861!).

Perhaps because I’d been writing about telescopes and comets, I noticed for the first time on its roof a small green dome. My heart leaped in my chest. Could it be an observatory? To my utter amazement I learned about what has been described as “an almost unique Victorian astronomy time capsule” (Astronomy historian, Dr Allan Chapman, Wadham College, Oxford). It is thought that Donati’s comet, which passed close to the Earth in 1858, captured the interest of the local scientific community in Bury St Edmunds and prompted the building of the observatory and installation of a large telescope that is still there today. For safety reasons the observatory sadly isn’t open to the public, but there is an ongoing campaign to restore the structure and encourage its educational use.

The observatory plays a key role in the plot of my story, and I’ll always be thankful for the day I looked up and saw it. Perhaps next time you walk along a street you will also see a building that will spark an idea. Inspiration for stories can be found everywhere, you just need to look up, keep your eyes open and let your imagination run wild!

Mystery of the Night Watchers publishes on 8 July from Usborne and will be available from all book retailers for £7.99.