Talking Location With … Nick Wilkshire

15th September 2026

#TalkingLocationWith ….. Nick Wilshire, author of Escape to Havana / The Moscow Code / Remember Tokyo 

Location, location, location…  Words to live by, and not just in real estate. For both writers and readers, setting can be one of the most important elements of a good novel.

For the writer, integrating the unique (and sometimes peculiar) sights, sounds and smells of a setting offers the opportunity to create more vibrant and authentic stories. Whatever the underlying plot, the experience of a character  in the bustling crowds of Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo is going to be vastly different than in the remote Yukon wilderness and writers get to explore how their characters respond to the various challenges posed by setting.

Courtesy Pexels

For the reader, they get to immerse themselves not only in a story, but in a *place*. Maybe it’s the reader’s hometown, or somewhere they know and love, in which case they can enjoy an insider’s perspective of the local references in the book, or recall their own experiences in a particular part of a city. Maybe it’s somewhere they’ve never been but have always been curious about, the novel giving them an opportunity to spend some time there virtually.

As a reader, I often choose books based on setting and I usually find stories set in places where I have spent some time the most satisfying. But sometimes I stumble across a book or a series set somewhere I’ve never been and I get to see a new and unfamiliar world unfold before my eyes. That’s probably why as a writer, I’ve always paid such close attention to setting. For my Foreign Affairs Series (*Escape to Havana*, *Moscow Code* and *Remember Tokyo*), the protagonist Charlie Hillier’s job as a Canadian diplomat offered the perfect excuse to set each book in a different and unique place, each of which I’ve visited on numerous occasions in real life. I also had fun with the fish out of water element, as Charlie struggles to contend with different languages, cultures, climates and cuisine.

My most recently published book (*The Hunt*, 2026) is a thriller set mostly in the Yukon, where I lived for several years. I’ve also set several books in St. John’s, where I grew up and in Ottawa, where I now live (*Masquerade*, the first book in a new series featuring an Ottawa detective comes out in 2027). But that’s not to say that writers should be limited to setting their stories in places where they have lived or spent time. I’m currently editing the first draft of a recently completed novel set in the North Atlantic, St. John’s and Oslo despite only having lived or visited one of those three settings in real life. With all of the online maps, images and other resources available, there’s plenty of material for writers to work with in conjuring genuine and atmospheric environments (though I will say it’s a little easier if you’ve actually been there – plus, I’d love to go to Oslo!).

Courtesy Pexels

So, if you like the idea of combining virtual travel with compelling stories, I invite you to check out one of my books and I hope that you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. As for me, I’ll be searching for my next setting!

Nick Wilkshire

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