Best selling author Harlan Coben has used Melbourne’s iconic venue The Espy in a scene for his latest novel ‘Live Wire’ and Melbourne singer / songwriter Missy Higgins inspired the idea.
‘Live Wire’ is a fictitious story featuring Lex Ryder, an Australian born rocker from the band HorsePower, who rise to international fame after first starting out playing in the front bar of The Espy in the inner Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda.
So how did the famous New Jersey mystery novelist find out about The Espy? “Research is about sources,” Harlan tells Undercover.fm. “Who better to go to about the music scene in Melbourne than my friend and "tour partner" Missy Higgins?”
Harlan discovered Missy Higgins some years after a friend sent him a copy of her song ‘Where I Stood’. He name-checked her in his best-selling novel ‘Hold Tight’. “I immediately ran out and bought that CD as well as The Sound Of White,” he told Undercover in 2008. “I listened to it a great deal while writing `Hold Tight`, even mentioning her in the actual book. It became something of a backdrop, so I told my readers about her in a newsletter. The response has been positive.”
Missy discovered she was named in a novel while on a family holiday. “My Mum and Aunty were recently in Broome, in Western Australia, in the same place I wrote most of my last album, when my Aunty, in the middle of reading `Hold Tight` stopped suddenly and said "Oh my God, he talks about Missy!", she told Undercover. “So of course my Mum read it and is a huge fan of Harlan Coben's now. I look forward to reading it myself. I really feel honoured to have been mentioned in the writings of such a respected and talented author”.
Missy is currently working on her third album.
For more on Harlan Coben's new book 'Live Wire', head over here.
VIDEO: Watch the Live Wire trailer:
VIDEO: Gregory Page, watch Gregory perform three songs at Undercover for uSessions:
