For me getting to know your characters and seeing them develop into fully rounded, if at times eccentric, individuals is one of the great pleasures of writing. They become friends (is that strange?). This is especially the case with the three Inspector Kirby books (I’m now working on a fourth). But where do those characters they come from? 
When you read a book the setting is like another character. It’s important, you want to picture the characters in their surroundings, even if your version of that picture is different to everyone else. I’ve written before on how I see describing settings as a balance between giving enough information to convey something of my vision of any given place while still leaving enough room for the reader to form their own picture. It’s like I provide the outline and the reader colours it in. For the Inspector Kirby books this was an interesting and evolving process.
For me the setting of any book if it’s pivotal to the story becomes a character in the story. The reader has to be able to see the setting in the same way they vision the characters. This means giving enough description to convey a frame work for that character/setting without being to prescriptive and depriving the reader of the fun of having their own vision of what the person/place looks like. 
Inspector Kirby and Harold Longcoat - A Northumbrian Mystery.
Inspector Kirby, Jonah to his friends and 'old school' to his junior colleagues, wandered out of the cottage. He crossed the road and headed down the lane, with thorny hedge rows either side, that led to the sea. He’d put this off for days, wondering how it would make him feel. Still there was nothing quite like a walk along the coast with its prevailing North East breeze and the smell of salt and rotting seaweed in the air to clear the mind. And let’s face it there was a lot to clear.
My latest project, Inspector Kirby and Harold Longcoat, due to be launched in a few week’s time, was great fun to write. Possibly, because it’s a change from my normal diet of science fiction, set as it is in the present day, more-or-less. It’s a detective, mystery story, again something new for me, although not quite that straightforward. If you’ve read some of my short stories you’ll understand. It’s also allowed me to play with the humour in my writing. However, I think one of the keys to getting that part of it right was developing sympathetic characters who would play off each other.
Recently I’ve been completing my latest project, working title: Inspector Kirby and Harold Longcoat, a Northumbrian mystery. The comments from beta readers are good and although there are a couple more to feedback I’ve sent it for proofreading/editing. Now, if you’re familiar with my other books you’ll know that I write science fiction and as the title of my latest creation suggests, it isn’t. Yes, it’s a detective story with, as I hope again is hinted at by the title, a supernatural/magical edge to it (it can’t be that straightforward).