BODY BLOW: Location research on the Costa del Crime

Body Blow is the second Eddie Savage thriller from Peter Cocks. It's the sequel to Long Reach, which was an Undercover Read last year. If you haven't read the first book, DO! It's gritty, tense, totally gripping and has had some cracking reviews (see below). We also made a pacy book trailer for it, which you can see at the end of this post...

"Pulling no punches, this action-packed thriller grabs you by the scruff of the neck and doesn't let go..." The Guardian

"Nothing about Long Reach feels as though it's been cleaned up for its target audience, and that's exactly what makes it feel so authentic and convincing..." I Was a Teenage Book Geek

"What makes it outstanding, however, is Eddie himself: resourceful but conflicted, cocky but unsure of his abilities. We're promised more of him, as this is the start of a series. Bring it on." Laura Wilson, The Guardian

"Real potential to be the first big thing in YA crime writing." The Mountains of Instead

You can check out just a few of the other great reviews on Feeling Fictional, The Overflowing Library, and My Favourite Books... 

A year on, and Body Blow hits the shelves in a couple of weeks, so we asked Peter if he could write a couple of guest posts for us about the book. The main change from Long Reach is the setting. Eddie heads from the ganglands of South London to the Costa del Crime in Malaga, so we asked Peter to tell us all about his on-location research...

When I decided to send Eddie Savage to Spain on his second adventure, I had the problem that faces most writers at some point.  I have some imagination, and I have been to Spain, so I could make it all up...

...or, like the dedicated researcher I am for my novels, I could take a trip to the Costa del Crime and pick up those details and bits of local colour you would never be able to imagine.

The first Eddie Savage book, Long Reach, was mostly based in and around South London, so all my research was easily done with an oyster card and some footwork. Plus cups of tea in pie and mash shops.

So I emptied out my purse and, apart from a used train ticket and a couple of moths, I found £69; the price of an Easyjet trip to Malaga. I tossed a coin and decided to go.
 
I headed out of Malaga airport on a bus, intending to head for Marbella, a flash town of Russian yachts and Ferrari's – the centre of all big crime deals in Southern Spain. In the harbour at Marbella, you can’t purchase a length of rope to tie up your boat, but in the quayside shops you can buy a pair of Louboutin shoes or a Gucci cocktail dress.

Then the bus stopped in Benalmadena.

It was a scruffy-looking place; the boats in the harbour were well-used charter yachts and the cars around the quay were mostly battered SEATs. So I decided to get out and take a look around. The more I looked at the run-down bars, empty building sites and gaudy nightclubs, the more I thought this would be a better place to send Eddie; rougher, more dangerous.

Someone had told me that the villains who can’t afford the high life of Marbella end up in Benalmadena.

I was hungry and thirsty and looked, for a split second, at the Burger King by the harbour, then decided to sit outside the bar opposite. 


I ordered a cold beer and watched as a man stirred something cooking in an old oil drum. Seconds later, he pulled out a boiled octopus the size of a cat. He deftly snipped up the tentacles and mixed them with some yellow potatoes which had also been boiling in the cooking water. He arranged the mixture on a wooden platter, sprinkled salt and red paprika over it, then olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

As he delivered them to a nearby table I asked, in my best Spanglish accent:

“Que es esto?” What is it?

He pointed to a sign in the window: Pulpo a Fiera. Fairground Octopus, 8 euros. I emptied out my purse again, and ordered some. Melting, spicy, oily…it was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten.

I settled back with my beer in the Spanish sun and thought that this place would suit Eddie Savage very nicely.

This scene appears in the second Eddie Savage thriller: Body Blow

Peter's written a couple more blog posts for us, which we'll post on Undercover soon. In the meantime, why not whet your appetite by watching the trailer for Long Reach below. We're currently making a book trailer for Body Blow, and a small crew are going over to Malaga early next week to film it, to make it really authentic...

Body Blow comes out in April, but you can read an extract now, and it's available to pre-order.
Pre-order Body Blow

Long Reach Trailer

Comments - 1 so far...

  1. maryom

    I loved Long Reach (see my review here http://www.ourbookreviewsonline.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/long-reach-by-peter-cocks.html) and can't wait to read Body Blow. Caught Peter's event with Keren David at Hay and was impressed with his knack of bringing his characters to life in a short reading.

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