The Mysterious Benedict Society Setting

Where It All Goes Down

A City Called Stonetown, Near a Port Called Stonetown Harbor

We don't get a lot of detail about the city of Stonetown, only enough to know that it has:

  • a street called Third Street
  • a building called The Monk Building;
  • an orphanage;
  • public transit in the form of buses;
  • a church with a bell that marks the hour and half-hour; and
  • a morning newspaper.

Of course, there's also a harbor and a bridge that connects the mainland to a small island called Nomansan Island, but when you put this all together, you get, well… not a lot. Essentially, Stonetown could be just about any small to mid-sized city on the coast. Of pretty much any industrialized country. And that's probably the point.

Stonetown is every town, and this story? Could be happening anywhere. In fact, it's probably even more appropriate to say that it could happen everywhere. Because that seems to be the villain's aim—and the heroes' concern.