bars in crime fiction

[Sarah Weinman]

Hey folks,

I'm working on a piece that riffs on drinking in crime fiction, and it occurred to me that for the most part, crime fiction protagonists drink a lot but not necessarily in the same place. There's Rebus and the Oxford Bar, Matthew Scudder and the late, lamented Armstrong's, but other than that, I'm drawing a blank. (Oh, and I know Jackson Donne has a local, too, and Con Lehane's Brian McNulty works in a hotel bar.)

So which others am I missing? And thanks in advance!

Sarah

[Beth Groundwater]

I'm a fan of Tim Cockey's Hitchcock Sewell undertaker mystery series, and I seem to remember that Hitch has a few favorite Baltimore bar hang-outs.

Just as a side-note, for my upcoming TO HELL IN A HANDBASKET mystery set in Breckenridge, CO, I had a lot of fun creating a "fish-out-of-water" scene for my 47-year-old amateur sleuth, Claire Hanover. She has to go into a well-known (real, but sadly just recently closed) snowboarder's bar called "Sherpa and Yeti's" to gather some information. Most of the patrons are young people in their 20s, and Claire's daughter, who accompanies her, is embarrassed by the questions asked by her fuddy-duddy mom. I took my husband with me to lend some moral courage when I went to scout out the location one evening. :-)

[Jon Loomis]

Frank Coffin and Billy's Oyster Shack. How could you forget?