Welcome to Suite and Savory. Can we help you?
By donalee Moulton
Lotus Detective Series #2
Lotus Detective Series #1
Shopping plays a big role in my new book, Melt. The second in the Lotus Detective Agency series, it follows three women who meet in a yoga studio and discover they have a penchant for solving crime. In the first book, Bind, a very expensive watch is stolen from the gym where the yoga studio is located. Not surprisingly the women get involved in solving the crime. Not surprisingly there is a lot of focus on the yoga studio and downward dogs.
Melt takes Charlene, Lexie, and Woo Woo outside their comfort zone, literally and figuratively. There is less action centered around the yoga studio and more around the women and their growing ability to solve crimes. One new location that plays a central role, and will likely make guest appearances in future books, is Suite and Savory, a fictional gift store in downtown Halifax.
The manager of the upscale store is Sofia Makri. She is the daughter-in-law of a key suspect in the book. She is also an acquaintance of Woo Woo and, therefore, offers the detecting triad a way in to the suspect’s world.
That was the reason Suite and Savory made its way onto the pages of Melt and into the world of my characters. As so often happens, the location became much more than a backdrop as originally anticipated. It became a meeting place, it became a place where friendships grew stronger and new ones blossomed; it became a place with a hint of romance.
It also became a place where characters searched for how to perfectly show their affection for one another. The story takes place around the holidays and the three women, the detective who has become part of their lives – and the crimes they solve – find themselves searching store shelves for the “perfect” gift.
Suite and Savory is a place to find the weird and wonderful. There are bright scarves and elegant notebooks and mandala bracelets and snuggly slippers. There are water bottles that clean themselves and slow sweaters. There are figurines, including three miniature pewter figures in yoga poses: lotus, shoulder stand, plow. There is choice, and the choice highlights the dilemma of the main characters as they strive to show what they mean to one another.
Suite and Savory also turned out, to my surprise, to be central to the plot. It’s where something that never should happen happens to one of the three main characters, and as a result, it is the launchpad for an intense and immediate interplay of scenes.
The gift store also plays one more key role in the story. It is the reason the world unravels for one of the characters, and how that character, in turn, unravels the world of those around them.
I had no idea as I started to plot out Melt that a retail outlet would take centerstage. It started out simply as “gift store.” Then the question became what kind of gift store. The answer: the kind that makes a difference to the story.
I also had no idea as I started to plot out Melt that a place that sells fusion side tables and $500 candles would come to mean so much. I hope it will mean as much to you.
Best of luck with the new book, donalee!
Thank you. My first series. Not sure what comes next.
You’ve described the magic of pantsing perfectly. I love it when characters, setting, and plot converge to “melt” into something creative and new that the author didn’t expect. Your books sounds awesome!
I have come to accept — and thank — the path my characters take without any help from me.
Good luck with the new book. Your description of how what could have been a throw-away setting piece became integral to the book is something that helps make a story magic.
It’s the little things I find that often resonate with readers — and with me.
Pretty! This has been a really wonderful post. Many thanks for providing these details.
So glad you liked the post. I tend to go on about yoga. My family and friends have stopped listening.