Peak Place Market

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Using local settings in my romantic suspense books

I’m currently working on the next book in the Grayce Walters series, MEN UNDER FIRE. Writing contemporary romantic suspense requires just as much research as historical romance suspense, but it’s a different kind of fact-finding. Since my books are set in Seattle, where I happen to live, it’s easy to incorporate my research into other activities.

For example, I volunteer as children’s tour guide and frequently lead groups through Pike Place Market. Because of spacing limitations, many of the marketplace vendors store their inventory in the Sanitary Market food locker. It’s rather dark and foreboding — the perfect backdrop for something sinister or dangerous, don’t you agree?

I’m also developing a female character who is a rocker trying to break into Seattle’s grunge music scene. To get some insight into this character, I interviewed Gretta Harley, a local musician. I believe this authenticity enriches my stories so that when readers step onto the page, they enter a world that is part fiction, part fact, but always entertaining and compelling.

Is there a location in your hometown that would make a good setting for romantic suspense?