The book is set in Bampton, a fictitious town in Derbyshire. Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire, containing the southern extremity of the Pennine range of hills which extend into the north of the county.
The town is in the Peak District. The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. It is mostly in northern Derbyshire, but also includes parts of Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire.
The characters mention Myra Hindley and Ian Brady, and the kidnapping of the girls happened after that case. The Moors murders were carried out by Ian Brady and Myra Hindley between July 1963 and October 1965, in and around Manchester, England. The victims were five children—Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans—aged between 10 and 17, at least four of whom were sexually assaulted.
Another name which is mentioned in connection with kidnappings is Rose West. Rosemary Pauline “Rose” West (29 November 1953) is a British serial killer, now an inmate at HM Prison New Hall, Flockton, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, after being convicted in 1995 of ten murders. Rose was judged to have murdered her 8-year-old stepdaughter, Charmaine, in 1971. Her husband, Fred, who committed suicide in prison while awaiting trial, is believed to have collaborated with her in the torture and murder of at least nine young women between 1973 and 1987. The majority of these murders were committed at the couple’s home, 25 Cromwell Street in Gloucester.
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