I am pleased to be able to provide you with the following guest post by the author of The Saints Go Dying and The Marinara Murders, Erik Hanberg.
Why would a city government ever own a restaurant? In 2002, in my hometown of Tacoma, our city found itself in that unusual situation.
It started when the city government was clearing a block of old buildings downtown to make way for a new convention center, and they paid each business to move elsewhere.
One of those long-time businesses, Bimbo’s of Tacoma (really, that was its name) was famous for its meat sauce, with a secret recipe no one knew.
The owner of Bimbo’s decided part way through the process that instead of letting the city move him, he would just rather take the money they would have spent moving him and retire.
The City paid him and suddenly found itself in position of all the assets of the restaurant—the equipment, the pots, and the secret recipe to the meat sauce.
I don’t want to give away much more, but when the real world hands you such a rich story to start with, I knew I had a great story for The Marinara Murders, which—nine years later—I’m happy to say is finally available.
The Marinara Murders: A grown man living in his mother’s basement, disgraced detective Arthur Beautyman knows his life has fallen off a cliff. But that doesn’t mean he has to be happy about his mother’s solution to his woes: volunteering him to solve a case for her favorite bridge partner. Oh, and to make matters worse, she wants to be his partner on the case as well …
Erik Hanberg blogs at erikhanberg.com and is on twitter at @erikhanberg. He is an elected official, serving as a commissioner with the Metro Parks Tacoma.
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