What's Your Favorite Place?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I saw on Facebook (of course) that a pal of mine is taking a road trip. The Three Pines, the village in Louise Penny’s luminous Inspector Gamache novels. Thing is, Three Pines doesn’t really exist. (Yes, I know it’s based on places in the Eastern Townships but it’s..fictional. )

But what is so lovely about that--my pal knows Three Pines so intimately, she feels as if she can really go there.

Harper Lee’s Maycomb, Margaret Mitchell’sTara. Alabama. Even Hogwarts—you could truly fine your way around those fictional places, right?

But how lucky we all are that so many wonderful novels are sets in real places—places we can actually visit. Have you even done that? Taken the Cara Black tour of Paris for instance?

The very talented David Burnsworth knows his beloved setting city.

Do you know yours?

Charleston

By David Burnsworth

The Charleston, South Carolina I think about when I write my books comes from the time I lived there in the early aughts. It was experiencing growth, but at a slower pace. Tourism, like now, was a huge money generator.

The old bridges across the Cooper River had yet to be replaced by the majestic Ravenel structure that really changed the face of the city. Never once did I worry about the danger of barreling over them, even though they were well past due for replacement.

The Charleston I knew was innocent. There was many a Friday night we barhopped up and down East Bay Street, starting at Meritage or one of the rooftop bars and finding our way to Big John’s for some signature shot concoction with a big kick. There was a cigar bar and an upstairs speak-easy only locals knew about. There was the Blind Tiger, Tommy Condon’s, and Wet Willie’s. We parked and walked to all of them. You can see bits of each of them in the fictitious beach bar the Pirate’s Cove in both my series.

The Charleston I knew was a living hangover of the Eagles “Tequila Sunrise.” I called Station Ten on Sullivan’s Island home and had a view of the intra-coastal waterway out my front door. And I had a fifty yard walk to a semi-private Atlantic Ocean beach. A dolphin once came up to one of the rock walls at high tide when a friend a I sat and talked and rotated its head so it could look up at us from two feet away. When I crossed the bridge from the mainland onto my island home, any problems stayed on the other side. Island life was all about taking it easy.

The Charleston I knew was paradise. Patty, my wife, and I visited the city again recently. It’s still the Charleston I remember, only now it’s had to change. Job growth and the cruise ships and best city lists have added people. But the changes we found only made it better. And I still love setting my books there.

There is no other city like it on earth.

Which city or place do you go back to, even for a small mini-vacation in your memories?

HANK; From a book? A movie? TV? Or real life? I had THE most interesting moment f year or so ago—I was in Baltimore for...something. And we drove from someplace to someplace (I know, helpful, right?) And I said to whoever was driving—“Whoa. This looks just like The Wire! “ And she laughed and said—well, yeah. It’s exactly whre it was shot!”

Pretty fascinating..I had no idea! How about you, Femmes? Ever had a setting déjà vu? Or what’s your favorite place to go back to?

 

DAVID BURNSWORTH became fascinated with the Deep South at a young age. After a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tennessee and fifteen years in the corporate world, he made the decision to write a novel. He is the author of both the Brack Pelton and the Blu Carraway Mystery Series. Having lived in Charleston on Sullivan’s Island for five years, the setting was a foregone conclusion. He and his wife call South Carolina home. Learn more at http://www.davidburnsworthbooks.com and https://www.facebook.com/pages/David-Burnsworth

 

 

 

 

LOW COUNTRY PI  First in a NEW Series!  Blu Carraway needs a new client. He’s broke and the tax man is coming for his little slice of paradise. But not everyone appreciates his skills. Some call him a loose cannon. Others say he’s a liability. All the ex-Desert Storm Ranger knows is his phone hasn’t rung in quite a while. Lucky for him, a client shows up—a distraught mother with a wayward son. She’s rich and her boy’s in danger. Sounds like just the case for Blu. Except the jigsaw pieces—a ransom note, a beat-up minivan, dead strippers, and a missing briefcase filled with money and cocaine—do not make a complete puzzle. His first real case in three years goes off the rails. And that’s the way he prefers it to be.

 

 

 

Comments

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

It's weird, though, because my books are basically set in Boston. And they are very realistic, and often events take place an actual buildings. . So I find myself saying driving past a certain apartment on Beacon Street, and I say oh, that's where the murderer lived. But then I realize no!… I made that up.

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

David, is this a new series for you? Hurray!
Tell us about it!

[Hank Phillippi Ryan]

And congratulations!

[Rowe Carenen]

I feel that way about Winston-Salem, NC and Llangollen, Wales. Both always feel like home to me even though I don't get to either as much as I'd like.

[Mark]

I don't know that I have that feeling about real places, but I have lots of fictional places I feel that way about.

[David Burnsworth]

Hank,

Thanks for having me here today! Yes it's a new series. I read hard boiled so that's what I like to write. Blu Carraway likes the hard jobs. Unfortunately for him he's in a dry spell until a new potential client pays him a visit. It's a missing person job and not really his preference but he needs the money. It goes downhill from there and he gets what he wants, but maybe the cost is more than he anticipated.

[David Burnsworth]

Mark,

Me too. I like Tolkien's middle earth as well as CJ Box's picture of Wyoming.

[David Burnsworth]

Rowe,

Has it changed much for you since you left?

[hank Phillippi Ryan]

I'd love to go to Wales, Rowe! And we are watching Hinterland right now!

[hank Phillippi Ryan]

Middle Earth? No way. Happy to read about it--but that's as far as I go.

[David Burnsworth]

It is so much fun to "experience" another place either by reading about it or writing about it!

[Joanna Campbell Slan]

David, my grandmother was a Middleton and a Manigault. You can guess what my favorite city is! My middle name is Ward, after the family that created the Pawley's Island hammock and owned Brookgreen. My roots there go deep into the pluff mud.

[David Burnsworth]

Joanna,

Thanks for your comment. The lowcountry is truly special!