A Spin Off of Pushing Daisies: Starring Olive Snook and Emerson Cod!
For a challenge at fandomverse, such a fun one, to create a spinoff from a TV show, book, or movie, with five new characters. I remembered a posting at TWOP clamoring for a spin off from the late, lamented Pushing Daisies featuring the amazing Kristin Chenowith as Olive Snook, and the incomparable Chi McBride as Emerson Cod. The idea was they could start their own detective agency. Just their difference in size was cause for visual hilarity, not to mention the confrontational bitch- and snark-fest that was the hallmark of their friendship. So, I bring you:
Cod and Olive's Pub and Detective Agency
Emerson Cod is enjoying knitting, doing his detective work, eating free pie, and occasionally having macaroni and cheese at Olive Snook's restaurant, The Intrepid Cow. But on the very day that Ned and Chuck decide to move to a desert island, Emerson receives a visit from an English private investigator, informing him that he has inherited a pub in a quaint fishing village in England called Anglerton-on-Tench from a long-lost uncle, Benjamin Haddock. And Olive, discovering the macaroni over-boiling while her lover canoodles with the candy-store girl, burns the place down and vows to become an expatriate.
They determine to join forces and take up the family business in Anglerton. But their recent life experiences tell them that just running a food and drink establishment isn't enough. So they decide to set up a detective agency. They may not have resurrective powers working for them, but they've got grit, heft, and plenty of moxie.
What they discover is a town that is quaint and complex, charming and disturbing, with a cast of characters that might seem to fit the usual small town stereotypes, but with a twist. Several twists. As they make friends, serve ale and crisps, and investigate domestic concerns, missing pets, and lost wills, meanwhile there is a sense of a scary undercurrent below the slightly wacky day-to-day doings of the locals. Not the least because Emerson's cousin, Benjamin Haddock, is a full-on crazy with a new conspiracy theory, and related costume, every day.
And there is clearly something that binds together all the residents of Anglerton-on-Pye. Even Olive Snook, whose presence there would seem to have been based on the purest of random chance. But is it?
(Can you guess what binds them all together? Hee.)
The Detective Inspector of the local constabulary, Fiona Fisher casts a weather eye at the American detectives, but can be cajoled into helping them from time to time. She was born and raised in Anglerton, left for college and career in London, but returned home after a failed marriage and disillusionment with city life left her slightly bitter but with a delightful, wry sense of humor and a not-yet-extinguished sense of fun, which seems to be especially sparked by....
...the private detective who found Emerson, and seems to hold no grudge that Emerson and Olive started up a rival business. In fact, they work different territories; Pike's harder-bitten demeanor and possible connections with the criminal underworld of the county, such as it is, gives him an air of danger, and puts him at odds with...
...the American, a self-professed agent of some American agency or another, who zips into Anglerton, apparently doing some form of work at the nearby military base, which is responsible for the regular deafening flyovers of fighters on training missions. He enjoys lingering in town, perhaps because of his interest in...
...the local doctor, also American, who did her residency at the base and decided to stay when Angleton's longtime medico, old Doc Grunion, died during his 100th birthday party. Bright, funny, but with a toughness that puts a layer of protection over a certain sadness, the cause of which is unknown but not unrecognized by the townsfolk who gossip at the Cod and Olive. She seems immune to Agent Mora's brash charms, but many have caught her looking moony-eyed at the town lawyer (solicitor!) and resident gentry....
...Leonard Lamprey, whose family lived in the "Big House" over the hill for centuries, but lost their wealth and position during the Thatcher years. The family scattered overseas, but Leonard stayed close to home, doing family law for the townsfolk but also pursuing a mysterious investigation on his own that gives him a haunted, worried look and puts him in league with...
...Emerson's cousin, who has lived his whole life in Angleton with his late uncle the pubman, but fancies himself a Londoner with a terrible Cockney accent. He spends every waking hour, when he isn't drinking, dancing, or sculpting, hot on the trail of the underground mystery of Angleton, that somehow involves the Lamprey dynasty, the military base, the Americans, and the mysterious force that put paid to a once-thriving sport fishing industry in this seemingly idyllic locale criss-crossed with rivers and streams.
Cod and Olive's Pub and Detective Agency--coming this Fall!
TY for the beta, blue_sunflowers!
Cod and Olive's Pub and Detective Agency
Emerson Cod is enjoying knitting, doing his detective work, eating free pie, and occasionally having macaroni and cheese at Olive Snook's restaurant, The Intrepid Cow. But on the very day that Ned and Chuck decide to move to a desert island, Emerson receives a visit from an English private investigator, informing him that he has inherited a pub in a quaint fishing village in England called Anglerton-on-Tench from a long-lost uncle, Benjamin Haddock. And Olive, discovering the macaroni over-boiling while her lover canoodles with the candy-store girl, burns the place down and vows to become an expatriate.
They determine to join forces and take up the family business in Anglerton. But their recent life experiences tell them that just running a food and drink establishment isn't enough. So they decide to set up a detective agency. They may not have resurrective powers working for them, but they've got grit, heft, and plenty of moxie.
What they discover is a town that is quaint and complex, charming and disturbing, with a cast of characters that might seem to fit the usual small town stereotypes, but with a twist. Several twists. As they make friends, serve ale and crisps, and investigate domestic concerns, missing pets, and lost wills, meanwhile there is a sense of a scary undercurrent below the slightly wacky day-to-day doings of the locals. Not the least because Emerson's cousin, Benjamin Haddock, is a full-on crazy with a new conspiracy theory, and related costume, every day.
And there is clearly something that binds together all the residents of Anglerton-on-Pye. Even Olive Snook, whose presence there would seem to have been based on the purest of random chance. But is it?
(Can you guess what binds them all together? Hee.)
The Detective Inspector of the local constabulary, Fiona Fisher casts a weather eye at the American detectives, but can be cajoled into helping them from time to time. She was born and raised in Anglerton, left for college and career in London, but returned home after a failed marriage and disillusionment with city life left her slightly bitter but with a delightful, wry sense of humor and a not-yet-extinguished sense of fun, which seems to be especially sparked by....
...the private detective who found Emerson, and seems to hold no grudge that Emerson and Olive started up a rival business. In fact, they work different territories; Pike's harder-bitten demeanor and possible connections with the criminal underworld of the county, such as it is, gives him an air of danger, and puts him at odds with...
...the American, a self-professed agent of some American agency or another, who zips into Anglerton, apparently doing some form of work at the nearby military base, which is responsible for the regular deafening flyovers of fighters on training missions. He enjoys lingering in town, perhaps because of his interest in...
...the local doctor, also American, who did her residency at the base and decided to stay when Angleton's longtime medico, old Doc Grunion, died during his 100th birthday party. Bright, funny, but with a toughness that puts a layer of protection over a certain sadness, the cause of which is unknown but not unrecognized by the townsfolk who gossip at the Cod and Olive. She seems immune to Agent Mora's brash charms, but many have caught her looking moony-eyed at the town lawyer (solicitor!) and resident gentry....
...Leonard Lamprey, whose family lived in the "Big House" over the hill for centuries, but lost their wealth and position during the Thatcher years. The family scattered overseas, but Leonard stayed close to home, doing family law for the townsfolk but also pursuing a mysterious investigation on his own that gives him a haunted, worried look and puts him in league with...
...Emerson's cousin, who has lived his whole life in Angleton with his late uncle the pubman, but fancies himself a Londoner with a terrible Cockney accent. He spends every waking hour, when he isn't drinking, dancing, or sculpting, hot on the trail of the underground mystery of Angleton, that somehow involves the Lamprey dynasty, the military base, the Americans, and the mysterious force that put paid to a once-thriving sport fishing industry in this seemingly idyllic locale criss-crossed with rivers and streams.
Cod and Olive's Pub and Detective Agency--coming this Fall!
TY for the beta, blue_sunflowers!