Location Part 1 The Propylaeum Tea Room

When writing Raising Hell I was inspired by real life locations. Writing isn't just about characters and situations. Sometimes it's about where the two interact.  In the book a meeting takes place between Sir Lawrence "Cold Larry" Hanover III and our resident good guy Nate Lacroux. These two guys are opposites. Polar freaking opposites. Both are wizards, but Nate is a biker, and Cold Larry is a very refined English ambassador. Larry was forced to come to  Indianapolis looking for Nate when our good guy avoided meeting him. Finally Larry forces Nate to meet and chooses a location. Larry sets the meeting for Indianapolis' own Propylaeum Tea Room,a very proper location in the Old North Side of Indy. I chose this place because of the neighborhood. While I have never sipped tea there there Old Northside has had quite a comeback. In the late eighties these old manners were flop houses for addicts and homeless people, and prostitution was rife in the neighborhood. Homeless shelters were built nearby and the neighborhood was rehabbed to it's former glory. 

Here's the Propylaeum;

And here is how the scene plays out in the book:

"Nate wasn't sure exactly what appropriate dress was for the Propylaeum Tea Room, but he was sure that he wasn't up to par. Sir Lawrence was sitting in the corner, sipping his steaming earl grey tea and browsing the Wall Street Journal. If Larry was as old as Nate assumed he was the interest alone on his savings account could have kept Nate in hot and cold running blondes for a long time. The browsing was just Larry’s way of downplaying the seriousness of the situation. He was being dismissive. 

Larry was dressed immaculately in a well tailored grey suit, sported a pencil thin mustache that alternated silver and slate grey. A matched bowler was balanced on his knee which was crossed over a long lean leg. His left arm was missing at the shoulder, and the empty sleeve was neatly pinned his jacket. He man looked like control itself, but he had seen his share of hardship.

For his part Nate was dressed in greasy jeans and a hoodie. His jeans were covered by his worn chaps  and his  hoodie with a familiar old leather vest that was peppered with patches, many profane, all of which clashed with sparsely populated tables of white haired women in muted pantsuits. He rode with the outlaw motorcycle clubs sometimes. The real 1%‘ers. He found them one of the few places he could fit in. He was an outcast among outcasts there. They accepted outcasts, and reveled in the status themselves. The old women in the tea room stared as he walked by, Tee following in his wake. Grey heads shook in disgust and mouths lined with pearly white false teeth hung open.  The two of them stood out like a turds In a punch bowl.

I hope you enjoyed this preview! Raising hell will be out on podiobooks.com and iTunes soon.