Way back in 1995, while I was researching and writing my first travel guide to New England brewpubs, I was also working on a mystery novel. The setting for the novel was a restaurant based on The Rusty Scupper in Acton, Massachusetts. I and my four siblings had worked there for a period of years in the late '70's through the mid '80's, and it was a fun, lively place.
My first novel, which is finished and sitting in a stationary box in my study closet, was set there. Griffin Kane and her brother Riley work at The Refectory, named for the dining hall in a monastery. Why? The owner is Brother Joe, a former monk who leaves the holy life for reasons unknown and opens an eatery in this small town outside Boston.
Griffin and Riley take off for Maine to attend their college reunion and Riley is arrested there for the murder of his former girlfriend. The crime had been unsolved until this time, 10 years later. Griffin sets out to prove Riley's innocence. That one is called Like Tears Over a Cheek (Tears) from a line in Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen and is based on a true crime that has yet to be solved.
I had researched The Writer's Market and sent out Tears and got nice rejection letters, which I saved and read from time to time. When I connected with a literary agent, she was interested in my series, but feared if she sent out Tears to her usual suspect editors, and they'd already rejected my effort, she'd lose credibility. "Finish the book you're working on, we'll sell it as the first in the series, then we'll sell Tears as the second."
That sounded like it made sense. She added, "And since you're beer book will be published soon, why don't you change the restaurant into a brewpub? That brings your beer expertise into the novel."
That also made sense. Hence in the second novel, No One to Bury, the book that has yet to have a "The End" tacked on, the setting is indeed a brewpub. And it's called The Vatican, because Brother Joe has an ax to grind with the Church and he knows the name will drive the Archdiocese crazy.
In this book, Brother Joe's boyhood friend is found dead in the mash tun, where Griffin is brewing a new batch of beer. Who killed Eamon Collins? Again, Griffin Kane will find the killer. I even have a tag line: "She's a failure at law, he's a failure at religion. Together they solve a series of murders that shake a small Maine city."
Setting changes again: I dragged No One to Bury kicking and screaming through my MFA program, where I do believe I became a much better writer. And I developed these Irish characters, Joe, Eamon, Maggie and Orla, who had grown up in an industrial school, suffered horrors there, and attempt a life of normalcy in the U.S., where Joe has opened the brewpub.
But by this time, I'd lived in Maine for 20 years and I was hemming and hawing about feeling at loose ends about where to place it. One of my professors said, "Just set it in Portland." So I sadly said my goodbyes to my hometown in MA and located the brewpub in Portland, Maine. Where? Where else? In a former church: Saint Dominic's on State Street, now the home of the Maine Irish Heritage Center.
I visited the Center one 96 degree day, and the people there loved the idea. So I toured the church, which has been de-commissioned, and got the layout in my head. That is now the "resting place" of No One to Bury.
By the way, that agent worked with me for a year, for which I was very grateful. But I went through a divorce, went back to work in the legal field and let my writing go for a time. I'm back at it, writing a second beer travel guide (hello, deadline!) and finishing No One to Bury.
I'm happy with this setting. I love Portland, and it looks like the rest of the world is falling in love with it too, judging by how many foodie types are writing about the city, not to mention the beer lovers.
And just for kicks, you can check out the first beer book, What's Brewing in New England, at my Amazon page: www.amazon.com/author/katecone
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