Behind the Book, Vickie Fee

Behind the book: My Fair Latte

Welcome to “Behind the Book,” our fun new Chicks on the Case feature! Join us as we Chicks share the real stories behind our stories: Inspiration, motivation, frustration, jubilation– research, rewrites, tidbits– you’ll find them all right here… 

Hi, Vickie here. Authors often get asked how much research we have to do for each book. So, I thought I’d share a peek into a tiny bit of the research for MY FAIR LATTE.

Halley Greer, my unemployed barista protagonist, unexpectedly inherits a timeworn movie theater, which after some renovations, she reopens with a coffee/wine bar and showing classic films.

Perhaps since I spent most of my adult life working as a newspaper reporter, I’m not content to simply do research online, although I can go down that rabbit hole for hours at a time. I like to get information directly from people who have personal experience and knowledge of the research subject.

For the first book in this new series, I languished for hours in coffeehouses over expertly pulled espresso shots. I asked nosy questions and stared at numerous baristas as they created latte art. My husband enjoyed (endured) multiple documentaries on baristas and the coffee industry.

Since my main character owns and runs a movie theater, there’s a marquee in front that advertises the classic film that’s currently showing. Most of the marquees I saw online (and in the real world, for that matter), are flat against the front of the theater. You typically see theater staff putting letters up on the marquee either standing on a ladder or using a long pole. But the marquee on the former theater (now a cool bistro) in my neighborhood has a different kind of marquee, one that projects out over the sidewalk. And I decided to use that one as my inspiration.

The photos here showcase the rarely-seen back of this marquee, thanks to Steven at the Delft Bistro in Marquette, who allowed me behind the scenes. Photos show me holding an “S” that goes up on the marquee (these are heavy!), both behind the Delft Marquee and in the room where the letters are stored.

In the photo above we can peek through to see Steven, who’s wearing a safety harness that’s attached to the steel structure holding up the marquee. He ducks under the marquee, groups the letters, then stands on the part of the platform extending in front of the marquee to arrange words announcing special events. Steven is bravely kneeling on the outer edge as I not-quite-as-bravely stand in the doorway to the marquee platform, talking to him. Finally, there’s a picture of the marquee at night, all lit up, including the underside of the platform.

The hours I spent looking at marquees online and all the information I gathered on my field trip add up to one short paragraph in the book. (You’re welcome.) The point of the research wasn’t to give readers a tutorial, but to make the scene vivid with some authentic details. And, if I’m honest, to satisfy my own endless curiosity (nosiness).

Broke, unemployed barista Halley unexpectedly inherits a timeworn movie theater and reopens it with a coffee bar showing classic films. Opening night’s premiere of “My Fair Lady” is a bit of movie magic until, faster than you can say Eliza Doolittle, a customer turns up dead. Apparently, the deceased wasn’t a very nice man and several people may have had reason to kill him – including Halley! (At least that’s the way the cops seem to see it.) Halley and her friends must find the killer or her new business, her new life, and budding romance in charming Utopia Springs could be DOA.

Is there a subject you’d enjoy delving into for research, or someplace you’d like to go for a field trip? Please share in the comments.

26 thoughts on “Behind the book: My Fair Latte”

  1. Shoot, Vickie! Talking about rabbit holes!
    I research all kinds of stuff.
    I had a disagreement with the coworker this week. You know, the one who’s right about everything. Someone is looking for a new job, and was turned down because of his boss’s poor reference. The know-it-all said that was illegal. Of course I said bull shrimp. She said her mother works as a law secretary, so she knows it’s illegal. I told her a judge told me in my masters program, and it’s on the internet that it May be company policy to only give the stats of job, time, pay, etc. to avoid a lawsuit, but there’s no federal or state law saying you can’t give a bad reference. She didn’t believe me, but I let it go.
    Yes I do research all the time.
    When I was writing my first manuscript, I called a radio station in Las Vegas for an appointment to see what a talk show personality does. Yup! Went to Las Vegas, sat in the production booth, watched the show being done, asked all kinds of questions. I went to both a pit boss and a dealer at a casino to ask about cheating. Both insisted cheating doesn’t happen in Vegas (this was a bit over a decade ago). Yeah, only 600 people a year got kicked out or blacklisted because of cheating, in Vegas alone! And there’s honest politicians in DC! (Joking here, to make a point) I found out the casino I used as the model for my first story was originally built by Bugsy, and my made up casino owner was a Bugsy follower. I tried to get an interview with Mayor Goldman to discuss his past, but they wouldn’t return my calls.
    So yes, I love research!

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  2. That’s so cool, Vickie! Classic theater marquees are such a delight. I think it would be cool to visit a distillery. I’ve read lots of stories involving wineries. Writing one involving spirits might be cool. Cheers!

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  3. Vickie, I love this!! So interesting. The book is wonderful. I love the photos too.

    I love researching my New Orleans series. I wander the streets on the city, I poke my head into open doors, I go to parades, I eat everything in sight. Lucky me!

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  4. I love this book so much, Vickie–thanks for the literal look behind the scenes!

    I was lucky enough to know the projectionist of our local movie theater when I was a teenager (he was a friend of my older brother’s), and got to hang out with him up in the tiny room during the showings as he threaded the film into the the projection and changed reels during the movie. Super cool!

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  5. I love old movie theaters! Some time ago my son & I were in Palo Alto and visited the Stanford movie theater, a fully restored 1920’s building. We watched a Hepburn/Tracy double bill with an intermission – an organ rose to the stage and we listened to period music. The only thing missing was a coffee/wine bar, although I didn’t realize it at the time!

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  6. Vickie, I’ve always thought marquees were magic! I loved hearing a behind-the-door account from a pro journalist and author. (Also the coffee research—it’s time for me to get some right now, so I’ll observe its construction very, very carefully.) But I still think marquees are magic.

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  8. As a classic film buff and bona fide coffee fanatic, this is smack-dab at the center of my personal Venn diagram!

    I used to while away many hours at The Roseway Theater in Portland, watching double features like Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice, complete with cartoon and newsreel pre-rolls. (happy sigh)

    Love this book and this behind-the-pages peek!!

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  9. I doubt that I’ll ever find the time and money, but I’d love to spend a couple of weeks in London. In addition to my Natalie McMasters Mysteries, I’ve written a dozen Sherlock Holmes pastiches and even published ten of them as Ten Steps From Baker Street. Yet the only time I’ve spent in London was a couple of train rides from Gatwick airport to Luton airport on the way to and from Paris. There’s a wealth of Victoriana on line that I use to research my stories, and some are inspired by contemporaneous newspaper stories. But I’d still love to walk the streets that Holmes and Watson trod even though many have been totally renovated since WWII. I even know a guy from the BSI who gives Sherlock Holmes walking tours…

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  11. Vickie, that is so cool! I absolutely love getting a peek backstage anywhere. I did some research backwards, though. I was writing a story set in eastern Europe and trying to figure out how such-and-such could happen. After all my online research, I decided a Danube cruise looked delightful! (And it was.)

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  12. That is such cool research, even if it only helped with one paragraph Vickie! It makes the writing so much more authentic. You might laugh but one of my early jobs that provided great training was working at a daycare. The older kids in the Summer Camp get to go to all kinds of fun places to try to keep them engaged and interested. I got to experience (along with the kids) a behind the scenes tour of a Double A baseball stadium, a steam powered train ride through a National Park, and a visit to a park with an arboretum, herb garden, and nature center. That was in addition to going swimming, going to a movie, and touring Red Lobster, where a child’s mother was the manager. It gave me a peek into lots of different areas. And Becky figured out how to go on a cruise down the Danube as “research.”” I bet your accountant is very creative in doing your taxes lol.

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  13. I don’t write but I love researching things especially old movie theatres. My father managed theatres in our hometown (4) so I was at one of them all of the time it seems. He started out as an usher in 1932 and worked his way up to District manager. He quit and became postmaster in 1962 when I was a sophomore in HS. I knew every part of the business. I could sell tickets and do the hourly checks, I could sell candy behind the candy counter, I spent time in the small hot projection room with either George Ayoub or Pink Woodward (the projectionists at the Arcadia–the main theatre). I never changed the marquee. They used red letters, and the marquee was two sided and V shaped. The ushers changed the marquee. It was above the roofline for the outside of the theatre. They used a ladder or went out a window from the projection booth. The name of the Arcadia was a large vertical sign that went straight up between the V end of the marquees. I wish I could attach photos here as I have a lot. I wanted to grow up and be a cashier, but I never got to work at the theatre. My sister worked behind the candy counter before Daddy left. Thank you for the photos of the Delft and behind the scenes. I bought your book in 2020 and it is on my TBR list. I think that it just got moved up to the top.

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  14. Aw, thanks, Madeleine! How fun you got to work in the theater. One especially hot summer, hubs and I spent a lot of time at the discount movie theater. Our AC didn’t adequately cool our place. And it was always heavenly cool in the theater!

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