This is Desert Steve’s Gas ’N Go. Okay, not really.

But it was in the first Flip-Flop Detective novel, STRAIT TO HELL.

I set a good portion of that novel in the small town of Desert Center, California. There are many closed businesses there and this gas station was one of them. It’s located immediately off the highway.

My characters often appear in actual businesses, especially if it’s a harmless scene. I think it’s cool to have those characters get an espresso at actual places like Cozy Coffee (STRAIT OVER TACKLE) or meet a friend for a beer at O’Doherty’s (CUTLER’S BARGAIN). It adds to a sense of realism.

But if something bad is about to happen, I’ll create a fictional business.

With Desert Center, though, there were no businesses to use. I had to make up the convenience stores I wanted. There wasn’t one in the whole town!

So, Desert Steve’s was born and staffed with some quirky clerks.

Down the road was McGoo’s. That had been an actual business, but it shuttered. So, I restarted it via the magic of fiction. It too got a colorful clerk so Sam Strait could stop in while searching for clues.

I took some pictures of the businesses while on my recent trip south.

What do you think?