In Vino Veritas – Everyone’s Favorite Wine Bar!

Every Monday leading up to the release of MR. SMITH AND THE ROACH, I’ve been posting about this upcoming book.

Today, I’ll tell you a little about one of the major settings of the novel.  It’s a wine bar on Manhattan’s Upper West Side – specifically W. 87th St and Columbus Avenue, right next to the Center for Avian and Exotic Medicine, and a block or so away from the Westview Apartments, home of Mr. Smith.

Outside, you can recognize the bar by the gold neon wineglass on the sign outside, which is topped by a neon parrot scavenged from the dumpster of the bird hospital next door after they threw it away.  It’s owned by Hilary Jackson, who you’ll meet in the book:

Hilary has had rather a colorful life, as we discover in the course of the story.  She wasn’t always a bartender – once upon a time she worked for the mob.  But when she sought out a more peaceful life, she ended up in possession of In Vino Veritas.

There’s what the logos on the napkins look like.  Classy, no?  It’s exactly the sort of place you might come to with your giant cockroach roommate to plan out your next move…