We love Clea Simon’s BAD BOY BEAT, so we asked her to walk us around Em Kelton, her protagonist’s, Boston…
Em Kelton’s Boston is city of dark corners and late-night hideaways. That said, it doesn’t entirely align with the real-life city. Some places had to be moved for plot purposes. Others are reimaginings of places long gone, while still others are entirely fictional. Still, if you know Beantown, here are some tips to follow along:
Duck boats
The amphibious tourist traps go into the Charles River near the Museum. That’s also where Em interviews a traumatized tourist… and sees the body that has just been fished out of the river.
Trestle bridge
Loosely based on the Grand Junction Bridge, Em’s bridge is a hangout for lovers and drunks. In real life, it’s a colorful wreck, best seen from the water. Dating from 1927, it’s a steel-girder bridge that once carried rail traffic across the river. Despite multiple repairs, the tracks – and the bridge – are still out of service, making Em’s adventures (and those of other characters in BAD BOY BEAT theoretically possible.
Noodle shop
Korean restaurants and ramen shops have edged out Allston-Brighton’s Vietnamese noodle restaurants, included the late, lamented V Majestic. Le’s Restaurant (137 Brighton Ave., at Harvard Ave.) isn’t quite where Em interviews a reluctant restaurant owner, but it’s close – and supplies that needed noodle fix, too.
Fenway Park
Em doesn’t give a fig about sports, but living in Boston means she’s constantly hearing about the Sox, so here’s “America’s most beloved ballpark” (4 Jersey St., Boston), home of the Green Monster.
The Boston Standard
The newspaper where Em works doesn’t exist, but it is loosely modeled on both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald, the city’s two surviving morning papers. Since my days on the night desk, the Globe has moved downtown to the Financial District, much too ritzy for Em’s paper. Instead, the Standard is probably closer to where the Herald used to have its in-town offices (now the site of the Marriot Ink Blot hotel, 223 Albany St., Boston). That end of the South End – excuse me, SoWa – has been thoroughly gentrified, too (though the incomparable Rosie’s Place continues to offer shelter and services nearby). But if you squint, you can see the old ‘hood in the bricks and cobblestones.
Boston Police
For convenience sake, I’ve made Boston Police District C-6 South Boston (40 Sudbury St., South Boston) the city’s headquarters, gussied it up a bit, and moved it a bit closer to the Standard. That also makes it closer to the MBTA Orange Line, which makes it easy for Jack to head out to Jamaica Plain to pick up his car.
A former journalist, Clea Simon is the Boston Globe-bestselling author of three nonfiction books and 31 mysteries. including the new amateur sleuth BAD BOY BEAT. While most of these are cat “cozies” (most recently TO CONJURE A KILLER), she also writes darker psychological suspense, like HOLD ME DOWN and WORLD ENOUGH, both named “must reads” by the Massachusetts Book Awards.
