I have 4 different compost piles. They are underneath some humongous spruce trees in my yard, so they are accessible to me, but not visible to the neighborhood. I use four different ones, and alternate to get better action. Also, I have a separate compost pile for pet waste. I compost most of my yard waste, and all our kitchen scraps (meatless of course).
At my previous residence, the compost was in the sun. I thought I'd have trouble composting in shaded areas, but no problem. In the sun, I found that I had to water it more often, otherwise it attracted a lot of ants. We're in a pretty dry area, so even have to water the shaded compost.
I've never purchased the composting worms. I have plenty of worms naturally, and the longer I compost, the more worms. If composting properly, you will have no odor problems. The problem most people have is that they either don't have enough space for the volume, or they're not mixing it well and occassionally turning it to infuse O2. It's the anaerobic action that tends to cause odors.
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