The Brookvale stories share a setting, but this is a spoiler-free question for anyone who enjoys mysteries. A fictional place can feel like a real town long before you have a map of it. Sometimes it’s the ordinary routines, the local rivalries, or the feeling that everyone knows a little more than they’re saying.
What details make a setting come alive for you? Think of a fictional town—Brookvale or somewhere else—that stayed in your imagination after you closed the book. What did the writer do to make it feel inhabited? Please keep specific plot revelations behind spoiler tags.