My debut novel, Moment of Truth, is set in my hometown of Columbia, SC. Here are some secrets about a location visited in the book.

• The Blue Marlin Restaurant is located in the downtown area of Columbia, SC is known as the Congaree Vista, or simply The Vista.

• The restaurant is housed in the former train station. Today a venue for fine dining, this distinctive circa-1912 building was known for decades as a hub for transportation into and out of the capital city. Its adjacent loading platform and the Seaboard Air Line Railroad baggage room, a smaller, circa-1905 building to the north, reveal the property’s original function. Both buildings benefited from adaptive efforts that transformed the Vista into a vibrant commercial and residential district.

• Well into the early 1980s, the Vista’s light industrial and mercantile character remained largely unchanged. However, twenty years earlier much of its residential life had been erased through Fight Blight programs instigated by national trends in urban renewal. Totally lost was the almost exclusively African-American neighborhood known as Ward One, whose modest houses, stores, schools and churches fell for the construction of such buildings as the Carolina Coliseum in 1968. The new view by city planners was this district that lay within the shadow of the State House was ripe for redevelopment – a vision that would change its landscape within the next generation.

• The shrimp and grits are a signature dish.
• My favorite is the Firecracker Flounder with fries and greens along with a cup of She Crab Soup.
• Adrienne and Christopher dine here after their visits to schools for his daughter.

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