The Hallmarked Man - Facts

 

The book starts in Temple Ewell, Kent, where Cormoran meets Decima. Temple Ewell  is a village in the county of Kent. The village is part of the Dover district of Kent, and forms part of the Dover urban area.

Decime tells Cormoran that Rupert stole a nep from her father. A nef is an extravagant table ornament and container used in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, made of precious metals in the shape of a ship.

Robin has an ectopic pregnancy at the beginning of the novel. An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilized egg implants and grows outside the main cavity of the uterus, making it entirely non-viable and a life-threatening medical emergency if left untreated.

The silver shop where the body was found was close to the Freemasons' Hall. Freemasons' Hall in London is the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England and the Supreme Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons of England, as well as being a meeting place for many Masonic Lodges in the London area. It is located in Great Queen Street between Holborn and Covent Garden and has been a Masonic meeting place since 1775.

Cormoran visits Temple Seventeen. Temple 17 is a highly ornate Masonic meeting room located inside the Freemasons' Hall on Great Queen Street in London.

There are many references in this book to the freemasons. Freemasonry  consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is considered the oldest existing secular fraternal organisation, with documents and traditions dating back to the 14th century.

Hiram Abiff is a mythical grand master of the freemasons. Hiram Abiff is the central character of an allegory presented to all candidates during the third degree in Freemasonry. Hiram is presented as the chief architect of King Solomon's Temple. He is murdered inside this Temple by three ruffians, after they failed to obtain from him the Master Masons' secrets. The themes of the allegory are the importance of fidelity, and the certainty of death.

One of the symbols carved on the body's back is the Salem Cross. The Cross of Salem is a cross used in Christianity. It is also similar to a patriarchal cross but has an additional crossbar below the main crossbar that is equal in length to the upper crossbar. The Cross of Salem is also similar to the Orthodox cross and is used by the supreme leadership of Scottish and York Rite Freemasonry.

Cormoran and Dorchester go to the Dorchester to watch their client's ex-wife. The Dorchester is a five-star hotel in Westminster, Greater London, to the east of Hyde Park, one of the world's most prestigious hotels. It opened on 18 April 1931, and still retains its 1930s furnishings and ambiance, despite later alterations.

Cormoran is told that the delivery driver, McGee, stole a kifwebe. Kifwebe masks are traditional striated wooden face masks created and used by the Songye and Luba peoples of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Cormoran get a note written in pigpen cipher. pigpen cipher (also called the masonic or tic-tac-toe cipher) is a geometric simple substitution system that trades letters for graphic symbols based on fragments of a grid.

Robin's parents live in Masham, Yorkshire. Masham is a market town and civil parish in North Yorkshire. It had a population of 1,205.

Sofia, a murdered girl, had an account on Onlyfans. OnlyFans is an Internet content paid subscription service based in London.The service is widely known for its popularity with pornographers, but it also hosts other content creators, including athletes, musicians, and comedians.

Sacha, Charlotte's brother, is an actor and is performing at the National Theatre. The National Theatre is a performing arts venue and associated theatre company located in London. The theatre was founded by Laurence Olivier in 1963 and many well-known actors have since performed with it.

Lucy, Cormoran's sister, lives in Bromley. Bromley is a large town in Greater London. It is 15 kilometres southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 329,991.

Jade Semple, the wife of one of the missing men, lives in Crieff. Crieff  is a Scottish town in Perth and Kinross.  It had a population of 7,142 .

Tyler Powell used to live in Ironbridge. Ironbridge is a riverside village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire.

 In Ironbridge they discover that there is a plaque dedicated to Billy Wright, a football captain. William Ambrose Wright (6 February 1924 – 3 September 1994) was an English footballer who played as a centre-back. He spent his entire club career at Wolverhampton Wanderers. 

Cormoran and Strike go to Sark to find Danny de Leon. Sark is an island in the southwestern English Channel, off the coast of Normandy, and part of the archipelago of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a self-governing British Crown Dependency, with its own set of laws based on Norman law, and its own parliament. 

Near the end of the novel the terrorist attack at Westminster takes place. On 22 March 2017, a terrorist attack took place outside the Palace of Westminster in London, seat of the British Parliament. Khalid Masood, a 52-year-old Briton, drove a car into pedestrians on the pavement along the south side of Westminster Bridge and Bridge Street, injuring more than 50 people, four of them fatally. He then crashed the car into the perimeter fence of the palace grounds and ran into New Palace Yard, where he fatally stabbed an unarmed police officer. He was then shot by an armed police officer, and died at the scene.

There is a reference to Talaiaisi Labalaba. Sergeant Talaiasi Labalaba (13 July 1942 – 19 July 1972) was a British-Fijian Special Air Service (SAS) soldier whose legendary bravery during a clandestine conflict transformed him into one of the most revered figures in elite military history. He is primarily remembered for his extraordinary self-sacrifice during the secret Battle of Mirbat in Oman, where his actions single-handedly saved his detachment from being overrun.

Some remains of the body are found in Petts' Wood. Petts Wood is a town in south-east London,.