The Characters, Murder at the Bijou

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene

It’s hump day and I needed a boost to get me through the rest of the week.  I avoid midweek posts, but I thought this might give me the lift I need.  When this song popped into my head (again) I knew I had to share.  Because I’m getting ready, ready, ready for the takeoff!  What I mean is the launch of Murder at the Bijou, Three Ingredients-I.

It’s a Roaring Twenties culinary mystery.  It was spontaneously written as a “pantser” serial here at this blog.  Everything, event, and character in the story was inspired by things or ingredients the readers of this blog sent.  Now, as I’m closer and closer to takeoff I wanted to show you my concept of the characters.

Studebaker blue 1920s

Cast of Characters

PipBlue Lucille Ball Stage Door Trailer


The Three Things gave us Pip (Paisley Idelle Peabody), the narrator of both story-lines. I was so fond of Pip, a flapper and aspiring “modern woman,” that I kept her around for The Three Ingredients. I added her grandmother, Granny Phanny, and the fledgling catering business so that we could have the culinary mystery theme.  The rest of the story is inspired by your ingredients.

The moment I stumbled upon a photo of a very young Lucille Ball, I imagined the voice of grown-up Lucy as Pip, telling the stories of her youth.

Granny Phanny

Margaret Sanger as GrannyPhanny Irene Peabody.  Granny is actually a “Pip” too.  Her given name was Phanny Irene, and when she married into the Peabody family her initials became P.I.P.  

I never found a photo that seemed like Phanny to me.  I only had a vague image of her in my mind, a woman with delicate features, but a backbone of steel. However, in a photo of Margaret Sanger, I saw Granny’s kind heartedness, firm resolve, and spunk.

From this point, I’ve listed the characters in order of their appearance in the story.

Alastair Wong

Sessue_Hayakawa_as AlastairThe very first ingredient (geoduck) was the inspiration for Alastair Wong.  The Wongs immigrated to the United States from England, and Alastair has a faint British accent.  Neither he nor his parents had ever been to China, though they dreamed of visiting and faithfully passed down family recipes used at Wong’s Chinese, their restaurant. Alastair is a talented businessman and chef.

Long time followers of this blog will recall that there are two Alastair Wongs.  The first one  you meet is the younger. Later, in Copper, the Alchemist, and the Woman in Trousers, you meet his grandfather, Alastair Wong the elder.

I had a small crush on Alastair, so his prolonged absence during the serial should show you that it really is guided by your ingredients.    :o)  

I think a vintage photo of Sessue Hayakawa could be Alastair — if I could find one of him in a less somber, brooding mood. Alastair certainly has a serious side but he also has a beautiful, ready smile.

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Arabella Wong1920s Vogue red hat

Alastair’s mother, Arabella also appeared in Episode-1 and she is mentioned a few times afterward. However, the ingredients haven’t led to a larger part for her… At least they haven’t yet. Only the ingredients can say!

A vintage Vogue magazine cover made me think of Arabella’s graceful elegance, though there has been little opportunity to describe her.

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Byron and/or Bradley BinghamtonNiven as Binghamton

The Binghamton brothers are actually “walk on” parts.  However, when I started looking for character images, I wasn’t sure where the ingredients might take them. So I’ve included them anyway.

Byron is the owner of the Bijou Theatre. That setting is where our storyline began, when “the dead man” was found.  Bradley Binghamton, Byron’s lookalike brother is seen much later.  They were minor characters, but necessary to the story just the same.  Something tells me that there might be some sadness in the history of the brothers, and this shot of David Niven in “The Bishop’s Wife” could be either of the lookalike brothers.

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Cracker Jack DaddySpeakeasy_Stories-July

Jack Daddy was a minor character who was fundamental to the storyline. His nickname was Cracker Jack because he was a skilled safecracker and a mobster.  Maybe he was not 100% bad if he was Cracker the Parrot’s “daddy.”  However, I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure.

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vintage bunnyCinnamon Bun

When I received “cinnamon” as an ingredient we got Cinnamon Bun, a Flemish Giant Rabbit with reddish fur.  You recently saw his back-story in the vignette, Granny Phanny and the Giant Rabbit.  The veterinarian, Vincent Vale gave him to Granny Phanny. She adores the oversized bunny, and so does Cracker the Parrot, who often brings Cinnamon Bun treats.

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Dabney Daniels

JCLeyndecker Arrow Collar adWe also meet Detective Dabney Daniels of Savannah’s finest. The moment I saw a vintage ad for Arrow shirts, I had an image for Dabney. He has known Granny Fanny for some time, and helps her with heavier work around her cottage. Dabney seems to take an interest in Pip, letting her ride along for part of the murder investigation and work at cataloging evidence. Is Granny trying to push the two together?

Detective Daniels has been patient with Cracker, even thought the parrot bit his ear. He shows concern for Granny, and for his fellow law enforcement officers. Though he seems emotionally distant to Pip’s way of thinking.

Vincent Vale

Christopher Timothy as Vincent ValeOur veterinarian is Vincent Vale.  He has broad knowledge and training for a veterinarian of that era, including acupuncture.

Vincent seems like a gentle soul. He rescued both Cinnamon Bun and later Cracker.  Together, he and his wife Veronica built an impressive medical facility for animals of all types.  Who else would I imagine as Vincent Vale but “All Creatures Great and Small” actor, Christopher Timothy.

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Cracker

Parrot in flightThe ingredients included “graham cracker” and of course that gave us Cracker the parrot.  Granny Phanny resisted liking that “nasty bird” for quite a while.  But Cracker’s unexpected devotion to the injured Marshal Moses Myrick won Granny over.

Cracker is a most unusual and clever bird. The one thing we can expect from this parrot is the unexpected.  Cracker learned many things related to the various mysteries in this storyline through her association with Cracker Jack Daddy, her late owner. When Vincent Vale examined her, he said Cracker was about 40 years old, so we can only guess at the scope of the parrot’s life experiences.

She definitely has opinions about the humans in the story. Cracker took a dislike to Dabney Daniels, perhaps associating him with the death of her “daddy.” But she loved Moses Myrick and the rabbit, Cinnamon Bun from the very start. It took her a while to win Granny Phanny’s affection, but she did. Cracker seems to like Pip and the poodle, Cotton. And she at least tolerates Hank Hertz.  However she shakes her foot as an expression for her disdain of “The Joker.”

Veronica Vale

1920s woman scientist-microscopeThe pantser writing of this serial also brought us the wife of Vincent Vale.  Mrs. Veronica Vale is an accomplished medical doctor and surgeon who has traveled widely. She is the most accomplished woman Pip has ever met. At Pip’s determination to be a “modern woman” Granny introduced her to “the real deal.” Veronica’s intelligence is matched by her good nature and sense of humor. Both the doctors Vale are caring, generous people.

She performed emergency surgery on Marshal Myrick after he was ambushed by the bootleggers. Vincent is a veterinarian, rather than a “people doctor” but he proved his skill too during the operation. Granny revealed yet another skill, acting as surgical nurse.

Marshal Moses Myrick

Barrie Craig adventuresOne of the ingredients was “peas”… and we got Moses Myrick.  Go figure, right?  That’s just how my brain works. Pip was distrustful when she unexpectedly learned that he’d known her grandmother for a long time, and apparently quite well. So her first reaction to Marshal Myrick was less than positive, “He was very polite and all, but I couldn’t help thinking what beady little eyes he had.  Green eyes… like little peas!”

I saw an ad for a vintage detective story, and thought the man could easily be Moses Myrick. He wins Pip over, and Cracker likes him right away. He seems to have an affinity for the parrot… and a history with Granny Fanny.

Queenie WetsonJoan Crawford as Queenie Wetson

The Queen of Clubs is introduced halfway into the story.  I was looking for a vintage queen of clubs card, when I found celebrity playing cards. Guess whose picture was on the queen of clubs?  Joan Crawford. From that moment, there was no other choice for Queenie Wetson.

Hank Hertz

Hank Hertz or Hugo Johnstone-BurtA reader wasn’t thinking when leaving ingredients for me. I faced a challenge. I try not to put restrictions on your ingredients, but one of the items was microwave. I knew it was meant as the microwave ovens we use today, but as I suspected, my research showed they had not been invented in the 1920’s.  However, scientists had long known about microwaves. That gave us a new character, Hank Hertz.

Our Hank is the fictional grandson of Heinrich Hertz, who proved the existence of radio waves back in the late 1880s. So the “microwave” ingredient gave us Hank, who is a wizard with the police radio. It also led to more layers in the mystery — Since the gangsters were using  open radio transmissions (microwave brought us to radio waves) they used code names.

As I visualized Savannah’s youngest policeman I thought of a TV actor who could easily play Hank — a slightly younger version of Hugo Johnstone-Burt who played Hugh Collins on “Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.”

Daisyvintage queen of the may

In a planned (or technically correct) story I would not add new players so late in the tale.  However, the spontaneity unexpectedly led me to new characters — including Daisy.  Also called The Dainty Dish, Daisy was the second Mrs. Henry Kingston. Her story was a local legend, according to which she was given to him as a payment for a gambling debt, but Kingston fell madly in love with her. Her story line continued into the next serial.

Mr. Farceur

The domineering major domo was also introduced late in the story.  At first I saw him as a stodgy old Black Butler 2man… but then the ingredients suggested that he could be an interesting complication to the story.  That’s also when his name came along.  Maybe his name, Farceur, is significant, or maybe it’s a red herring — only the ingredients know for sure!

For a moment he had been a nameless, faceless butler. When a classic anime character pinged into my mind, I indulged myself with the image of “Black Butler” Sebastian Michaelis.  How could I resist?

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So there you have it — most of the characters for the soon to be “book-ized” Murder at the Bijou, Three Ingredients-I.  Thanks for reading and have a wonderful Wednesday!

Copyright © 2017 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

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99 thoughts on “The Characters, Murder at the Bijou”

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  7. Didn’t realise there were two Pips… How did I miss that? anyway… good to become more acquainted with your characters… I love Cinnamon Bun & Cracker. 😀 Then again, I would, wouldn’t I? 😁

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    1. Thanks Kev. The young one is the only one who goes by Pip. I made it a point of interest, and a way of reinforcing that Granny and Pip have more in common than might meet the eye. It was huge fun to write about the parrot and the big bun. Mega hugs.

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      1. Phew! Thought I’d missed something, somewhere. It caused quite a stir… Well, not that I’d panic of course… 😅

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  9. I am catching up and love getting to know all of the characters. I honestly don’t know how you do it, give her an ingredient and she takes it and turns it into a character in the serial. Blows my mind, I have a special love for Pip and Granny Phanny but each character is interesting and whether they are a major player or not they are all wonderful, Cracker is such a character, Alistair Wong is mysterious and intriguing I could go on but won’t thanks for this.

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  10. Thank you for the introducing your characters, Teagan. I am delighted about the book because I haven’t read the story. Love your ingredient idea – it works perfectly. I adore the oversized bunny and the parrot.
    Many hugs.

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    1. Thank you Inese. Cracker and Cinnamon Bun were huge fun to write. Yes, I don’t believe you were following when I wrote the 1920s serials — it’s been quite a while now. I plan to book-ize all three of them. Thanks for taking time to visit. Mega hugs right back.

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    1. Thank you Sarah. It began long ago as a writing exercise that I made up for myself. Just to keep writing, I’d take 3 random things and write (anything) in a story-type of form until I mentioned all of them. I found it worked better if my friends gave me the “things.” The first time I did it, the writing took on a serial type of story. So when I started blogging, I decided to try and convert it to the blog and see if it worked. I was happy with the results.
      I’m sure it’s not a technique for most people. But my profession has been technical editor for many years. I guess being stuck with “editor brain” helps. 😀 Have a beautiful weekend. Hugs!

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    1. Thank you Adele! 😀 I don’t mean to impose my imagination on anyone, but I think it helps sometimes. I find it hugely fun when people tell me what actor they imagine in the role. For instance, Kate Hepburn has come up from a couple of people as Pip. My vision of Pip is a tad younger than her old movies though. Have a thriving Thursday. Mega hugs!

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      1. Mega hugs to you too Teagan and I love how you match the characters to famous actors and actresses. I saw a picture of Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby today, awesome movie and wonderful actors. x

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  26. Here’s to a GRAND takeoff for your book. I love it when authors have a vision of what their characters look like – I did a post on mine, but left my protagonist to the imagination. This book will be a winner!

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  31. Dear Tegan… Wow. I am loving this writing project…. the fact that the characters are based on recipes and stories from blog posts here is such a powerful syncretic element. Variety is the spice of life, as the saying goes. I think the multiple types of personalities (characters) will undoubtedly guarantee a great reading.
    Wishing you a beautiful day & … Happy Spring from the other Hemisphere (autumn over here! 😉 )… Hugs to you

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    1. You are so kind, Aquileana — thank you! I had my work cut out for me when a reader who just wasn’t thinking gave “microwave” as a food-related ingredient. It was quite a bit of research, but it resulted in a new character — one that I liked a lot. He showed up briefly in the following serial too. Writing this serial was huge fun. Happy autumn/spring to you as well, my friend! Mega hugs right back. 🙂

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    1. Thanks Teri — I’m glad they entertained you. Naturally, for anything beyond this ingredient/thing driven story, I would not keep adding characters throughout the story. So I tried to make their parts suitable for how long they would be in the story… Hopefully the cadence isn’t crazy! 😀 Mega hugs!

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    1. Or quickly at least! Think how frightening I might have been as a lawyer — or a president! 😈 Thanks for visiting, John. And for your wonderful encouragement. I’ll see you on my lunch-break for Story Day! Mega hugs.

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    1. You are so kind, Sarah. I’m thinking that most people were not around for that serial. So I’m trying to be cautious about spoilers, and on the other hand, about publicizing it enough too. It’s hard to choose between “Do they already know this?” and “They probably don’t know…” Thanks for visiting. Mega hugs!

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  39. Sue, you are such a treasure. Thank you. My brain does feel awfully crowded sometimes! LOL. I keep character matrices (in Excel) for each of my stories. That lets me keep minor details straight. It’s a bit of extra work (especially in these serials, tracking everything), but it’s well worth the effort — makes things a lot easier in the long run. Thanks very much for taking a moment to visit. Mega hugs!

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    1. My pleasure, I have to come manually over to your site to see your reply though. as I saw your like,and knew you would have responded.. Its happening a lot that I am not getting replies in my notifications panel.. I wonder too if people often do not get my replies too.. Seems the glitches are getting worse as I travel the blogsphere..
      Always a pleasure when I visit here Teagan.. Take care of you.. and Much Love ❤ xxxx

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  40. I just love how you bring all these characters together Teagan.. You are a true Genius :-).. And how on earth your memory stores it all is beyond me.. But I am delighted that you do, for you produce such wonderful stories that capture our imaginations.. 🙂 xxx 😀

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  41. I remember, Teagan, although as usual, one I reread the stories all in one go I’m even more amazed at how you managed to pull it off… A great cast of characters (I have a soft spot for Cracker…) 🙂

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    1. Hi Olga. You are so kind. Heartfelt thanks for your encouragement. ❤
      Cracker may (or may not, as I've never had a parrot) be more than a real parrot could be… but I love her just the same. I'm glad she has a friend in you too. Mega hugs.

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