Schloss Bronsart

Map showing the proximate location of the Schloss Bronsart relative to Cold War Europe (1957).

The Schloss Bronsart was a fictional water castle owned by wealthy businessman and SMERSH associate, Sin Jai-Seong (Aka. Jason Sin). It was located roughly half and hour from Nürburg, in the thick woodland south of Bad Münstereifel, West Germany. The castle appears in Anthony Horowitz's 2015 James Bond continuation novel Trigger Mortis.

History

Trigger Mortis

Presumably built around the 14th century, the Schloss Bronsart was constructed by the Schleiden family; who were also responsible for the Nürburg Castle. It was located roughly half and hour from Nürburg, in the thick woodland south of Bad Münstereifel, West Germany. The castle itself was situated in the middle of a huge, deep, and very cold artificial lake with a single causeway leading to a front entrance (complete with drawbridge and portcullis). The main building was three storeys high with mullioned windows and crow-stepped gables. Alongside was a tower structure, topped with a weather-vane and steel grey tiles. The two buildings were connected by a short bridge, just over the water, and, higher up, by a narrow corridor to which brick and thatch had been added almost as an afterthought. Nearby was a miniature jetty. Through the main entrance was a tall and spacious hallway, with a wide marble staircase flanked by suits of armor. A doorway to the left passed into a reception room, which in turn led to a great hall lined with chandeliers, tapestries, antique mirrors and a minstrel's gallery. In contrast to the sumptuously furnished lower floors, the upper level of the castle appeared almost derelict and barely habitable. Its priceless oil portraits had been vandalized by Sin - their eyes neatly burned out with a cigarette, leaving black holes. Sin's bedroom consisted of an unkept narrow iron bed. A large square room overlooking the castle entrance and causeway was used as his office. It contained a single, thick mahogany table, a chair, and a large rug concealing a pressure sensor linked to a silent alarm.

As with many of Jason Sin's properties, the castle was close to one of the world's racing circuits - the Nürburgring - and allowed him to entertain drivers and guests with lavish post-race parties. He had acquired it several years before, from its previous owner - who had drowned in the castle lake. During 1957, Sin holds a party at the Schloss Bronsart, which is infiltrated by a suspicious James Bond and (separately) American Secret Service agent Jeopardy Lane. In order to gain access to the building's upper floors, Bond causes a distraction by knocking out Sin's head of security, Mr. Luther. Investigating Sin's office, he pockets reconnaissance photographs of the Vanguard space rocket. Jeopardy follows in his wake and unwittingly triggers the silent alarm. Bond takes her to the roof of the castle tower and the pair jump into the encircling, freezing lake. In the aftermath, Sin punishes Luther by forcing him to select a random method of execution from his deck of lethal Hanafuda (flower cards) and compels him to commit suicide by hanging. The body was dumped in the lake by his successor, Mr. Artmann.

Trvia

• German castles like the Schloss Bronsart appear in a number of previous John Gardner-penned continuation novels – most notably in Never Send Flowers.