Finding My Protagonist

by Cathi Stoler

 

“I Grew Up In A Bar” was the title of my seven-year-old daughter Lauren’s second-grade essay. The bar was Who’s On First, a restaurant, comedy club, and bar where my husband Paul worked for many years.

It was also three blocks from our home, so we were frequent visitors for dinner. I became friends with the staff and many of the regular customers, and I learned how the restaurant and bar business worked.

 

I thought of Who’s as a home-away-from-home filled with great people and interesting stories—people who sit at a bar often love to confide in the bartender, who’s often a captive audience.

My husband quipped that someday he would write a book about his experiences at Who’s, including the stories he’d heard. When he didn’t, I decided I would. With such a wealth of memories to draw on, how could I not?

The decision inspired me to shake things up and give my bar mystery a twist. So, I created Jude Dillane, the female protagonist bartender and co-owner of The Corner Lounge on Tenth Street and Avenue B on the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

 I wanted Jude to be unique among the bartenders I’d known—after all, none of them had solved a mystery.  And I wanted the atmosphere at her place to have a neighborhood vibe that made people feel welcome and comfortable, like I had at Who’s. Jude would be in charge and call the shots from how she set up the bar to the drinks she served and how she interacted with her customers. 

 

I gave her a backstory I hoped would resonate with my readers, showing both her strength and vulnerability. She had some tough times growing up in the Bronx and worked hard to find a career she loved. Her mother and brother had died in a tragic accident, and her father, overcome with grief, committed suicide. She was alone. It took grit and courage, but she finally found her way and opened The Lounge with her chef and partner, Pete Angel. Her landlord, Thomas ‘Sully’ Sullivan, an older, retired Marine, and the owner of the building where The Lounge was located, treated her like part of his family. 

As I was writing Bar None, the first book in the Murder On The Rocks Mysteries, Jude became real to me, and I gave her the qualities I hoped would help her succeed. She was smart, tenacious, and never gave up. These qualities would allow her to take on the problems you might expect at a restaurant such as rowdy customers or running low on supplies. And some you might not expect, like helping Sully catch a murderer at the food bank where he volunteered, or finding a dead body in the dumpster out back. These were not events that a bartender usually encountered. Well, thankfully not at Who’s On First.

As I wrote the other three books in the series, Last Call, Straight Up, and With a Twist, the mysteries Jude would solve became even more serious and deadly. But she never faltered and was always up to the job.

 

Now, I like to think that somehow, creating the character of Jude Dillane has inspired me to find new stories and new characters to captivate both my readers and me. 

 

Where have you found inspiration?

 

 

Bio:

 

Cathi Stoler is an Amazon Best Selling author and Derringer winner. Her newest series is The Nick Donahue Adventureswith Nick of Time, Out Of Time, and No Good Time. She has also written four novels in her Murder On the Rocks Series:Bar None, Last Call, Straight Up and With A Twist, all of which have been nominated for several awards, as well as TheLaurel and Helen NY Mysteries, including Telling Lies, Keeping Secrets, and The Hard Way, and has published multiple short stories. She is a board member of NYSinC, and a member of MWA, and ITW. You can find her at www.cathistoler.com or email her at cathi@cathistoler.com.