Ciara and Strike emerged into flashes like gunfire; Strike’s retinas were in sudden, dazzling whiteout; he ducked his head, his hand closed instinctively around Ciara Porter’s slender upper arm, and he steered her ahead of him through the black oblong that represented sanctuary, as the doors opened magically to admit them.
The Cuckoo’s Calling, Robert Galbraith
Strike visits the South Kensington club where Lula spent her last night in the company of Ciara Porter, supermodel and friend of Lula. She takes him into the VIP area, where Strike meets Lula’s boyfriend, Evan Duffield, who exerts a magnetic force over the room of lesser celebrities. After dodging the paparazzi entering and leaving the club, Strike accompanies them back to Evan’s flat, but it’s Strike, not Evan, Ciara chooses to spend the rest of the night with.
South Kensington is part of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its clubs are pricey, sleek and fit for VIPs, but a little younger and more relaxed than those in Mayfair. The real estate is South Kensington, which is full of elegant stuccoed terraces, crescents and squares, is as expensive and exclusive as that in Mayfair though. At its heart is Exhibition Road, occupied by museums, colleges and cultural institutions which was laid out after the Great Exhibition of 1851, replacing the market gardens which used to occupy the area. It became a centre for French expatriates during and after Wold War II and still has a number of French restaurants and bakeries among the high-end shops and boutiques. It is also where the first Waterstone’s bookshop was opened in 1982.
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