Reviewing restaurants is normally a safe pursuit, but Lorne and Catherine face torture and death when they try to unravel organised crime's infiltration of the fine dining scene.
Their longstanding friendship deepens when they meet again seven mont...
Lorne and Catherine stepped out of the launch at the float and walked up the ramp arm-in-arm. "Molly's Reach is slow this evening. Probably only locals, no tourists." She nodded toward the large false façade. "Looks like a new sign, though. Much bigger than I remember from the reruns."
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"Yeah, my thought was they're trying to keep some business. All that built-in marketing from the TV series. My mother was hypnotised by it. She boasted she'd seen every episode, all eighteen years of them." He chuckled. "Then all the reruns."
"Dad said he used to watch the Beachcombers so he could poke fun at the errors in the boating scenes and to laugh at the hokey plots." Catherine shrugged. "But I guess that was CBC in the 1970s and 80s."
"Yes, but as hokey as the shows were, a booth or the counter at Molly's Reach was always central to the plot. A whole generation of TV watchers in Canada, the States and a dozen other countries know the restaurant. Those viewers are now the moneyed tourist."
Lorne pointed up the slope. "The new place is directly behind it, Molly's Beach. Clever play on words, picking up on the built-in marketing. I can't believe the name was allowed. I guess they brought in high-power lawyers to badger the small guy."
As they stepped through the doorway, she said, "Wow! It appears much busier, what time is it?"
He popped his iPhone from his pocket and thumbed it. "Twenty thirty-two. Yeah, it's really hopping. Hope we can get a table."
They were told it would be about a quarter-hour, so they spent their time skimming the reviews, which were neatly arranged in frames on the wall of the waiting area.
He squeezed her hand "Were you ever in Molly's Reach?"
"We came over here once — I was still a kid. Mum wanted to see the old TV set after it had been turned into the story's diner. The only thing I remember about it was the strawberry milkshake."
"That building was the storage shed for the show. They dressed it up with a false façade as the diner for exterior shots. This new reception area, lounge and bar are decorated to look like the TV studio set, a gussied-up version of the diner from the series."
He pointed to a driftwood-framed doorway beyond the reception desk. "The restaurant runs across the waterfront through there."
"A lot of reviews here. Seems as though everyone has reviewed it. Is yours here?"
"No, I've dined here only twice so far, but I have yet to find anything kind to say."
"Yeah, that's in the banner on the Unknown Diner blog — your blog." She squeezed his arm and lifted her face for a kiss. "You never write a bad review."
"I'd rather forgo the writing fees than say something damaging to a business." He bent to kiss her again. "The kindest thing I can do to some restaurants and wine producers is say nothing."
