// The atlas of fictional crime

The atlas of fictional crime

Where do the villains of fiction strike? 203 works from the archive placed on the map where they happen, with their 363 villains. Environmental criminology starts with a simple question: where.

New York City (Queens and Manhattan)Reseda, San Fernando Valley, Los AngelesVictorian LondonParisSouth Side, ChicagoTokyoChinatown, San FranciscoBaltimore, MarylandSeoulBoston, MassachusettsPortland, OregonCorinthAlbuquerque, New MexicoMiami, FloridaLas Vegas, NevadaPhiladelphia, PennsylvaniaSt. Louis, MissouriNew Orleans, LouisianaAustin, TexasFuente Obejuna, CórdobaSevilleImperial RomeFolsom State Prison, CaliforniaDulles Airport, Washington, D.C.Atlantic City, New JerseyLake of the Ozarks, MissouriMinnesota (Minneapolis and Brainerd)Plainfield, WisconsinClarksdale, MississippiAtlanta, GeorgiaWest Texas (Mexican border)North Denver, ColoradoDeadwood, South DakotaHarlan County, KentuckyLincoln, MontanaKing County (Seattle), WashingtonAstoria, OregonJamestown, VirginiaSouth CarolinaCidade de Deus, Rio de JaneiroMedellín, ColombiaFrench Guiana penal colony (Salvation Islands)Port Royal, JamaicaSmall Heath, BirminghamNottingham and Sherwood ForestLeith, EdinburghScotland (Inverness and Dunsinane)Cannes, French RivieraMadridAragon (Zaragoza)GranadaSecondigliano, NaplesMantuaCortina d’AmpezzoViennaKraków (Płaszów camp)Elsinore (Helsingør), DenmarkSaint PetersburgRostov-on-Don, RussiaCyprus (and Venice)Legendary PekingDelhiSeoni hills, central IndiaNorth-east Victoria (Glenrowan)Wolfe Creek crater, Western Australia

Only real, explicit settings: a work that moves around a lot, or whose city is not clear, is left out. Points are approximate (city level).

The atlas in figures

203works on the map
363villains
20countries
63 %in United States

Where crime happens in fiction

Big city144
City31
Small town12
Countryside9
Other5
Prison2

An environmental reading

71% of the placed works happen in a big city and 10% in a small town or the countryside. Environmental criminology (the Chicago school, routine activities, crime pattern theory) reads crime through place: who moves where, what targets are there and who is watching. Social disorganisation · Routine activities · Crime pattern theory

By country

United States 127 works
United Kingdom 22 works
France 13 works
Spain 7 works
  • Money Heist · Madrid (The Royal Mint of Spain and, later, the Bank of Spain.)
  • Fuenteovejuna · Fuente Obejuna, Córdoba (1476.)
  • The Mayor of Zalamea · Zalamea de la Serena, Badajoz
  • The Trickster of Seville · Seville (It begins in Naples.)
  • Carmen · Seville (The final crime, at the gates of the bullring.)
  • Il trovatore · Aragon (Zaragoza) (The Aljafería Palace, 1409; also Biscay.)
  • The Black Ball · Granada (The film interweaves three eras; the casino and the 1936 repression take place in Granada; the 1937 story, in the war.)
Japan 7 works
Italy 5 works
  • Gomorrah · Secondigliano, Naples
  • Gladiator · Imperial Rome (It begins on the front in Germania and passes through Zucchabar (Africa); Commodus reigns and dies in Rome.)
  • Tosca · Rome (June 1800: Sant’Andrea della Valle, the Palazzo Farnese and Castel Sant’Angelo.)
  • Rigoletto · Mantua
  • The Pink Panther · Cortina d’Ampezzo (The ski resort; the final robbery attempt is in Rome.)
South Korea 4 works
Greece 3 works
  • Medea · Corinth (The ancient polis.)
  • Antigone · Thebes (The ancient polis.)
  • Agamemnon · Argos (The palace of the Atreidae.)
Russia 2 works
India 2 works
  • The White Tiger · Delhi (Balram leaves a village in Bihar, commits the crime in Delhi and ends up in Bangalore.)
  • The Jungle Book · Seoni hills, central India
Australia 2 works
  • Ned Kelly · North-east Victoria (Glenrowan)
  • Wolf Creek · Wolfe Creek crater, Western Australia (The Australian outback.)
Brazil 1 work
Colombia 1 work
  • Narcos · Medellín, Colombia (The first two seasons; the third moves on to the Cali cartel.)
French Guiana 1 work
  • Papillon · French Guiana penal colony (Salvation Islands) (Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni and Devil’s Island.)
Jamaica 1 work
Austria 1 work
Poland 1 work
  • Schindler's List · Kraków (Płaszów camp) (Amon Göth runs the Płaszów concentration camp, on the outskirts of Kraków.)
Denmark 1 work
  • Hamlet · Elsinore (Helsingør), Denmark (Kronborg Castle.)
Cyprus 1 work
  • Othello · Cyprus (and Venice) (The first act is in Venice; the rest, in a Cypriot port the play doesn’t name (pin in Famagusta, the traditional identification).)
China 1 work
  • Turandot · Legendary Peking (A legendary Peking, “in the time of fables.”)

Invented places

Works set in places that do not exist. They are not on the map, so as not to make up coordinates.