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The Year of The Museum

The Year of The Museum

by | Jan 31, 2018 | Arts & Culture, February 2018

On the bicentennial of Raleigh’s first known museum, we celebrate all the incredible institutions transforming the city into one of the most exciting cultural destinations in the country.

The August 28, 1818 issue of the North-Carolina Star proudly announced the opening of the North Carolina Museum.

“This establishment is now open for the reception of visitors,” the announcement reads. It goes on to unabashedly solicit items. “Natural and artificial curiosities, sketches, maps, drawings and painting, rare coins and books, will be thankfully received and added to the collection.”

From these humble beginnings, Raleigh has garnered national attention, attracted international exhibits and has even earned the nickname the ‘Smithsonian of the South.’ Ernest Dollar, director of the City of Raleigh Museum, recently found the North-Carolina Star clip. He says that 2018, the bicentennial of the city’s first museum, “should be the year of the museum in Raleigh!”

Smithsonian of the South

Raleigh has rightfully merited the ‘Smithsonian of the South’ moniker, explains Ken Howard, director the North Carolina Museum of History for over a decade. It’s a title earned through the diversity of its museums and exhibits, as well as the museums’ accessibility to all.

“The Raleigh museum scene is expanding with constantly rotating exhibits at the NC Museum of History and the NC Museum of Art, and new dinosaurs are coming to the NC Museum of Natural Sciences,” Howard says. “I think we compare favorably to other cities, especially since our major museums have free admission for everyone, not just residents. Raleigh is rich with museums.”

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and the NC Museum of History are neighbors, sharing the walkway of the scenic Bicentennial Plaza downtown. They also share the honor of being officially named Smithsonian affiliates, a designation awarded to museums dedicated to the Smithsonian mission: “the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”

With local history makers such as Daniel Boone, The Wright Brothers and Michael Jordan, it’s a given that North Carolina’s history museum will amaze any lover of state lore. Recently, the museum incorporated more interactive exhibits to great success. A quarter million visitors learned about the First World War at a recent exhibit which integrated their participation. Visitors could test themselves to see if they could put a gas mask on in time, or pick which ‘spoil of war’ wasn’t a real bomb.

Beginning at the end of June, the history museum will feature a collection of Durham native and NFL player Ernie Barnes’ paintings. A graduate of North Carolina Central University, Barnes sold out his first solo exhibition at New York City’s venerable Grand Central Art Galleries in 1966.

Just across the walkway, the Museum of Natural Sciences and Nature Research Center is the largest museum of its kind in the Southeast. The incredible three-story, 200,000-
square-foot facility has dozens of exhibits that have saved countless days for parents, teachers and caregivers looking to entertain and educate young ones. From animal story time—where kids can pet rabbits, snakes and hissing cockroaches—to flying whale skeletons and a mid-action dinosaur fight, this museum always inspires the imagination.

With all the incredible exhibits we’ve come to know and love, the science museum seeks to bring programs that will surprise, excite and educate. Mazes and Brain Games, a collection of 3D puzzles and brain-bending games, is just one example of a typically enigmatic exhibit that’s going on right now. Are you clever enough to unravel the riddles? Find out before it closes in September.

And though not an officially designated Smithsonian affiliate, our own City of Raleigh Museum (COR) is making a name for itself as a center of welcome, history and insight about the ever-growing City of Oaks.

Dollar, COR Museum’s director, says a significant gesture from the city showed him how serious Raleigh was about supporting its museums.

“We were originally part of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department,” he says, “but within a year, the department changed its name to Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources. Since then [the city] has been incredibly supportive in giving the museum the resources it needs to become an innovative and influential municipal museum.”

In 2017, COR Museum welcomed nearly 40,000 visitors, the most since its founding in 1993. The museum hopes to break that record with a jam-packed schedule this year, including an exhibition called Underneath Cameron Village Shopping Center.

In the late 70s and 80s, influential music clubs including The Pier, Bear’s Den, The Frog and Nightgown, Elliot’s Nest, and Cafe Deja Vu hosted some of the biggest names in music and created a literal underground music scene in Raleigh. The exhibition will explore this historic phenomenon and in conjunction, COR Museum hopes to host oral history events and concerts, reuniting artists who got their start underneath Cameron Village.

For those following the Dix Park news, Dollar says COR Museum’s biggest exhibit opening in 2018 will explore the past and future of the Dorothea Dix campus, including the property’s storied past and the most up-to-date plans for the future. It will also give visitors an opportunity to give feedback on what they’d like to see Dix Park become.

“Its role in Raleigh can’t be underestimated and will certainly play a quintessential part in the city’s character in the years to come,” Dollar says.

National Recognition

Last year, Insider Magazine ranked the North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) 13th on its list of top 25 museums in the country, a list that included museums of science, art and history narrowed down from the nation’s 35,000 recognized museums. The magazine used data compiled by Foursquare, a tech company that generates consumer-based ratings and recommendations using location technology. NCMA beat out the likes of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City and The Broad Museum in Los Angeles.

“That was a big-time deal,” says NCMA director Larry Wheeler, who recently announced he would be retiring this fall after nearly 25 years at the helm. “Out of these tens of thousands of people who voted, NCMA popped up as one of the top ten best.”

And it’s only getting better. In April, the museum will open You Are Here, an exhibition of gallery-sized projects from 14 contemporary artists that incorporate sound, light and movement to create an immersive experience for visitors. One such gallery will showcase an “infinity room” installation by internationally renowned artist Yayoi Kusama. The exhibition as a whole will comprise an entire floor of the museum’s temporary exhibition galleries.

“It’s never been done before in North Carolina and rarely in the United States,” Wheeler says. “I think what we’re doing will be the biggest of its kind ever done in the country.”

Meanwhile, downtown’s Marbles Kids Museum, which celebrates “hands-on, minds-on learning for children and families,” earned some recognition of its own. A national selection committee chose Marbles to host the Association of Children’s Museum (ACM) International Annual Conference this spring. Hundreds of children’s museum innovators and leaders from all over the world will gather in Raleigh for the Open Source Play: Sharing the Creative Code conference.

“Marbles’ selection is an amazing accomplishment for a museum that’s only ten years old,” says Taylor Rankin, a Marbles spokesperson.

Expanding Horizons

The national spotlight is shining favorably on Raleigh’s museums and there’s no better time for them to grow, both physically and in terms of creative expression. Last year, NC State’s Gregg Museum of Art & Design re-opened its doors in a new, standalone location. Museum planners spent two years traveling, researching and designing the new space, says Gregg director Roger Manley. After all, it’s not every day folks have an opportunity to plan a new museum.

“We looked at the Nasher (at Duke University), and I liked that the lobby is the central area and everything radiates out from that,” Manley says. “This offers the possibility of closing one gallery to install a new show without crippling the other parts of the museum. The Gregg will always have two shows in progress, with the potential for three or four at a time.”

The idea that the role of museums have broadened was another focus for the Gregg.

“Museums have become much more like community centers where there are opportunities to present a whole range of different activities and hit a wider range of demographic groups,” Manley says.

The upcoming exhibition Business as Usual, a collection of lifelike wood sculptures from North Carolina artist Bob Trotman, exemplifies this idea.

“Calling them wood carvings is hard to wrap your brain around because a lot of them are kinetic,” says Manley. “As you walk up to them, a motion detector will sense your presence and the sculpture will do something.”

CAM Raleigh, downtown’s contemporary art museum, has cultivated a reputation for showing memorable, one-of-a-kind pieces. Less than a decade old, CAM has quickly become the favorite gallery for many Raleighites. Its goal is “to spark new thinking by creating ever-changing experiences that explore what’s now and nearing.”

Gab Smith, CAM’s executive director, is looking forward to introducing more and more new, living and working artists to North Carolinians. Margaret Bowland, a Brooklyn-based fine artist is one, and her exhibition opens March 1. Bowland’s beautiful, provocative paintings were recently spotlighted at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

“It will be [her] first ever exhibition in North Carolina,” Smith says. “We can’t wait to share her incredible painting with Raleigh!”

You can’t expand horizons without knocking down some boundaries, and breaking down barriers to artistic endeavor is exactly what downtown visual arts center, Artspace, is all about. Opened in 1986, this 30,000 square foot facility houses space for artists to work, exhibitions to inspire the public and classes and workshops to further facilitate creative works. And it continues to redefine what experiencing art means. For example, this spring and summer, Artspace will be hosting FRESH, a bi-annual event which invites the public to a unique learning opportunity about how art is chosen for an exhibition.

Ileana Rodriguez, Director of Communications for Artspace explains, “From May 18th-26th, we display all of the submitted works so visitors and artists can view each of the 100+ pieces of art that could be included in the show. Then, we work with a local curator or arts professional who selects a smaller group of work that becomes an exhibition that runs June 1st-30th. The idea is that everyone gets to see the before and the after, which is rare!”

Smith sums up our fortune as a city, “Raleigh’s museums are fantastic. There are so many free options and really terrific programming for all ages. We are fortunate to live in a city that champions arts and culture and tries to ensure that everyone that lives here has access to it.”

Rodriguez adds, “We’re so lucky that our city truly supports the arts. As Raleigh continuously lands on best of and top 10 lists, I have to think that the creative spirit that drives so many of us is a big part of why Raleigh continues to attract smart, driven, creative people to the area.”

With all these options, resident of Raleigh, citizen of the Smithsonian of the South, the only question is, on the 200th birthday of museums in Raleigh, which exhibit will be your favorite?

The Magic of Giving Back

The Magic of Giving Back

by | Dec 1, 2017 | December 2017/January 2018, Do

It’s impossible to know exactly what to expect when volunteering somewhere new, but sometimes those surprises are, in a word, magical. As I tied my apron strings to serve lunch at the Raleigh Rescue Mission’s downtown shelter, I learned I would be serving alongside actor, comedian and magician Jeff Altman. This guy was on the David Letterman show more than 40 times and here he was, showing me the ropes of the lunch line. He and his wife, Bonnie, have been weekly volunteers here for years. 

“A wise therapist once told me, ‘If you want to feel better about your life, help someone else,’” Jeff says. “And it’s true. It works every time. I’m always glad I come.” 

Would there be parking? Would I be safe? Will I know what to say and do? All these little concerns niggling me that morning instantly melted away. From the detailed information they send before the shift to the convenient parking and a guard at the entrance to direct you, RRM has its volunteer coordination down to a science.

The chef in the shelter’s kitchen prepares the meal, so all we had to do was cut biscuits and scoop gravy into them, if requested. Once all the biscuits were open-faced, we had a moment before the hungry biscuit recipients arrived, so Jeff treated me to a mind-bending card trick. I’m convinced that reading my mind was the only way he correctly guessed my card. Though the trick left me bewildered and certainly entertained, the most magical part of the lunch was just beginning.

Raleigh Rescue Mission offers several ways to help people who are struggling to get back on their feet. The meals served in the dining room are primarily for residents who live upstairs in the shelter, so Jeff and Bonnie knew many residents by name. As residents filtered through our line, their smiles, gratitude and the genuine mutual care between us shook me to the core. 

It was clear to me that I was receiving much more than I could give. 

“That’s what we love about volunteering here,” Bonnie says. “It’s a blessing to us.” 

As much as the Altmans appreciate getting to know the clients who reside upstairs, they also love when those clients are not in line the next week. 

“It works, what they do here,” Bonnie says. “People will get a job, an apartment, they get back on their feet. To think that maybe my smile, or a meal, or a kind word I gave helped them take another step and keep fighting for a better future—it’s wonderful.” 

As I performed the simple tasks of saying hello, dishing gravy onto biscuits, scooping veggies and handing plates over with a smile, I realized that this was going to be the most meaningful lunch I’d have all week. It meant an opportunity for me to serve and maybe, just maybe, it meant hope and strength for someone else. That’s where the magic truly comes from.

Beyond serving meals, there are many ways to volunteer with Raleigh Rescue Mission. Find an opportunity to fit your schedule at raleighrescue.org.

Intimacy in the Open

Intimacy in the Open

by | Nov 6, 2017 | November 2017, Retreat, Stuff

Conversation spaces can be the cherry on top of your open floor plan.

Once upon a time, “Where do we put the TV?,” was the first question in home design. Today’s homeowner, however, is embracing a new trend and affirming that the best stories are shared face to face.

‘Conversation space,’ is one of the newest and fastest-growing trends in home design currently and, if you type the phrase into Google or Pinterest, a wide array of photos will pop up that vary in scope, size, design and style. The photos can be so disparate that they may leave you wondering, just what is a conversation space?

“It’s like ‘Knights of the Round Table,’” says Liz Casas, an interior designer at Dexter Furniture in Raleigh. “When people are seated intimately, face-to-face, it encourages discussions. It’s about finding the right table or ottoman that can serve as the center, instead of a TV, so that conversation flows more naturally.”

Stefanie Bell, vice president of sales and marketing and new homes director for the Jim Allen Group, agrees.

“It’s a cozy, smaller space within a large, open space,” she adds. “Conversation spaces can be any areas in the home that offer a cozy, inviting setting.”

In essence, conversation spaces are the perfect complement to enduringly popular open floor plans.Conversations spaces

Meg Chenery, owner of Meg Chenery Interior Design, sees the trend every day in the Raleigh market.

“Families are enjoying more relaxed spaces that are big on everyday comfort and lounging,” Chenery says. “Open floor plans allow for distinct seating areas or conversation spaces that would normally be in different rooms. These types of floor plans tend to have an open kitchen as well. Open kitchens are perfect spots for gathering and entertaining and can multi-task as an excellent area for homework.”

So pervasive is this concept that Bell says it’s become a consideration for new home construction.

“Local builders and architects are creating these spaces in new floor plans,” she says.

Grace Bonney of the lifestyle blog Design*Sponge said recently that, unlike many home trends that wax and wane over the years, she thinks open floor plans are here to stay.

“I see this as something much bigger than a trend,” Bonney wrote in an April post. “This feels like a major change that is set to dominate the way we see homes for a long time.”

If open floor plans are here to stay, then a continued desire to create smaller, functional spaces within the larger setting is likely not going away any time soon either.

“In today’s world, fueled by technology and social media, more home buyers are seeking less formality for cozy, intimate settings,” Bell says.

Chenery adds that conversation spaces are great tools for growing families.

“These open conversation areas can create multipurpose zones for reading, games and socializing,” she says.

Though peaceful games and quiet homework nooks may seem like fantasies for growing families who are running from place to place and yelling from downstairs to upstairs, designers are optimistic.

With an “if you build it, they will come (and be calm and converse) kind of attitude,” Chenery offers her expert design advice as to how you can create your own conversation space:

“An easy way to tackle any wide-open room is to create a balanced look with your larger furniture pieces. Pairing sofas with chairs and complementing them with a large dining table with matching chairs will bring symmetry and order to your space. Using neutrals and a natural palette helps to bring a light and airy vibe to an expansive space. Bringing in color with pillows, artwork, rugs and accessories allow you to add a pop of color and bring your personality into the space.”

More Tips and Tricks from Meg Chenery Interior Design:

• Think Outside the Couch: Consider using four chairs instead, to allow for better flow and the option to add more seats. 

• Converse While You Cook: Breakfast bars allow for more people to gather as the sauces simmer. Keep comfort in mind when choosing your barstools! 

• Don’t Forget Fire: Whether portable or permanent, fire pits and fireplaces can’t be beat for southern roaring repartee. 

• One Piece, Many Jobs: Stools, benches and ottomans are great for doubling seating.

• Pull It Together: Pick the perfect rug to define and unify the space.

Reviewing Online Reviews

Reviewing Online Reviews

by | Oct 9, 2017 | Buzz, October 2017

When you’re about to head out for the night and want to try something new, what’s the first thing you do?

When you’re in the market for a new car, home appliance or plumber, what’s your instinct?

If your answer is to go online to check reviews, you’re in line with the majority of American adults. According to a survey by global marketing firm Mintel, more than 70 percent of U.S. adults surveyed say they seek online reviews and opinions before making any kind of purchase.

It’s clear that online reviews are important to consumers, but do they really matter to businesses?

“Yes, absolutely,” says Lee Robinson, manager of Raleigh’s Players Retreat. “You can’t help but obsess about them a little bit. Every time we see a bad [review], we try to figure out what the root cause is and try to fix it,” Robinson says.

Raleighite Melissa Shaheen says that is precisely her motive behind leaving negative reviews,

“I’m a big believer in, ‘how can you fix something if you don’t know that it’s broken?,’” she says.

Shaheen says she leaves both positive and negative reviews often: “It’s such a great tool if it’s used the right way.”

She shares the story of how Delta turned around a bad experience after she reached out.

“My 80-year-old mother was stranded,” she says. “I tweeted the situation @Delta and within 15 minutes of my tweet, a customer service representative was by her side with help and a voucher.”

Using negative reviews wisely is smart business, according to Robinson.

“I find them helpful,” he says. “I would much rather personally touch every table while they are here and make sure they are having a good time as opposed to them going home upset and writing a bad review, but that’s on us. So I’m glad it’s out there.”

However, many have found online reviews to be bad for business. Yelp has already had to defend itself against lawsuits claiming that Yelp’s practices are defamatory and resulted in loss of business. Currently, the California Supreme Court is deciding Hassell v. Bird, a case that hinges on the limitations of free speech and due process for online reviews.

In addition, marketing firms have popped up all over the country with advertised goals to help businesses defend themselves from online negativity.

One such firm in Raleigh, TheeDesign, has a designated Online Reputation Management (ORM) sector. It employs SEO experts who, according to the company’s website, specialize in “digital marketing,” and say it “spares no tactic to revive your organization’s brand and know the most effective, efficient ways to bring your business back on top in the eyes of the public.”

Like social media in general, online reviews can mean different things to different people. Lauryn Colatuno says that for her, online reviews make the world a smaller place.

“I think it’s about being part of the local community,” she says. “There is something cool about seeing what regular people say about their experiences.”

Colatuno was such a frequent contributor that she became one of the first “Yelp Elite” reviewers in Charlotte. The experience later even turned into a career, which brought her to Raleigh.

Because of her experiences as both a long time reviewer and employee of the online review world, she has seen, and left, her share of negative reviews.

“Even before I worked for Yelp, I was conscious of my reviews because I understood it could hurt a business’s reputation,” she says. “Usually businesses would reach out to me after negative reviews in a very positive way asking how they could make it up to me, and would I be willing to give them another chance.”

As a Yelp employee, part of Colatuno’s job was to educate business owners on how to handle negative reviews.

“Customers appreciate it more when businesses simply reach out, acknowledge the bad experience and let them know how they are changing to improve,” she says.

“Absolutely,” agrees Shaheen. “I will absolutely continue to be a customer if they respond and work to make things better.”

Tips for Effectively Reading Online Reviews: 

1. Check out the profile of the reviewer. Do they leave many reviews? Do they only post when they have negative experiences? Our review experts agree that reviewers that leave both positive and negative reviews are more trustworthy than someone who may just have an ax to grind, or, as Robinson says, “it could’ve just been someone we had to cut off.” 

2. Scan through the reviews themselves. Colatuno says, “Just because a restaurant has a 3-star overall review, that can still be a great place to visit. If you only visit places with 5 stars, you’d be missing out!” 

3. Take into account how new a business is. For a new or small business with only a couple reviews, each review is weighted much heavier, so fewer stars may just mean fewer reviews.

Private Matters

Private Matters

by | Sep 1, 2017 | Buzz, September 2017

In an online world, are private investigators a dying breed?

The sign on the door was peeling and the blinds were crooked, I raised my hand to knock when the door flew open.

“I knew you were coming, I heard you need a source for a story,” said the stranger. His fedora tilted just over his left eye; the faint smell of scotch lingered on his breath. Thunder crashed and the sound of a saxophone drifted through the window from the alley below…

OK, OK, so, I might be exaggerating a little. Clearly, the world of private investigation has come a long way from the Dick Tracy, Eddie Valiant movie gumshoe depictions of the past; but how far has it come? In this information age, where we can find out anything about anyone—from my potential babysitter to the guy I saw on Tinder—online, who hires P.I.’s?

We sat down with local private investigators from different worlds within the same industry and did some sleuthing to find out where gumshoes have gone and figure out what exactly private investigation is today in the Triangle.

From an almost accidental start to investigative work, Derek Ellington has built Ellington Digital Forensics, one of the most respected digital forensics firms on the east coast. Ellington is a certified fraud examiner, certified forensic examiner, certified E-discovery specialist and a licensed private investigator, who has been working with digital forensics and in IT for over 20 years.

Ellington’s background is in IT. In that role he was often doing investigative work for companies before he actually saw himself as an investigator. For example, he could track claims of employee misconduct from their digital footprint. But as people moved from having just a computer to having a computer, a smartphone, a tablet and several online accounts, the demand for digital forensics grew quickly and Ellington seized an opportunity.

Ellington Digital Forensics has worked nationally investigating corporate fraud, theft of trade secrets and criminal and wrongful death cases. Locally, he is known primarily for work on domestic law disputes where he will investigate for different aspects of spousal misconduct.

“In Raleigh, we’re known as the infidelity and porn people, but luckily that’s just a part of what we do,” he says.

Hired primarily by lawyers, businesses or on a recommendation from a lawyer, Ellington often works in conjunction with ‘traditional’ private investigators who follow people and get first person photographic and video footage of wrong doing. “They will be our eye in the sky,” he says.

Keeping Cover

These detectives, classic P.I.s in a sense, rely so strongly on their anonymity for professional purposes that we are respecting this next detective’s request to not mention his, or his business’ name. For clarity, we’ll call him Mr. Smith.

Mr. Smith has been a private investigator for 22 years and prides himself on the traditional methods of investigation based on intuition, knowledge, observation and experience. Mostly hired by insurance companies, Mr. Smith has a reputation for building solid cases for companies when there are red flags that claimants are greatly exaggerating or lying about injuries.

“We can get a bad reputation for following ‘hurt people’ but by the time they hire me, usually there are so many red flags that they are just looking for confirmation,” Mr. Smith says.

To do this work he often has to follow people, which is the hardest part of the job. There is an incredible amount of expertise needed to be able to be far enough away so people do not suspect they are being followed, but he has to be close enough to take photos or video, that can be used in court if needed, that shows, without doubt, evidence of wrongdoing.

Mr. Smith says that though movies may show mad car chases and exciting plot twists that come with following people, it is really determination and discipline that make the best investigators. Years of experience have taught him that subtle clues can be the most helpful: like for instance knowing when birds fly from a driveway is an indicator that someone is coming out of the house. He can also read the gravel indentations on a dirt driveway to know which direction someone is most likely to turn out of their driveway. There are several tricks, but just like his identity, he keeps quiet to do his job well.

Other instances don’t require special knowledge as much as a thick skin and putting him in awkward scenarios. In one case regarding worker’s compensation, Mr. Smith had to position himself on a hip adduction/abduction machine because it was right behind the treadmill where an insurance claimant, who was supposedly greatly injured, was running and training for over twenty minutes. Each time a trainer came by Mr. Smith told a story of a groin injury that needed lots of rehab. Mr. Smith says that one of the downsides of the job is knowing that when you are doing your job well, to others, you often look or drive like an ‘idiot.’

The Expert Advantage

In the name of evidence though, that kind of thoroughness is necessary which is precisely the reason that private investigators are hired.

You could go on Intelius or PeopleWise or any of the numbers of online background record checks for information from credit records to sex offender checks, and you can walk into any court and get a public criminal record. You can try to track your spouse’s car or put spyware on your home computer or attempt to follow them in person. Do you know, though, which of these things are legal? And whether you could use any of this information in court?

“A lot of what we can do, what we find is the same as what our client could find, the difference is we can stand behind it, we can explain it, we can testify about it in court,” Ellington says. “Often when we are hired, people will come to us with evidence they have already gathered. What they need us to do is replicate their results in a way that can go to court and be used as evidence.”

Ellington has testified over 150 times and knows firsthand the many ways that evidence, not handled properly, can quickly become meaningless. In this, again, the movies give us an inaccurate depiction. “People think that the technical challenge is the hardest part, when often, that’s the easiest part. The real expertise comes in understanding court orders, the rules of discovery and how to move evidence,” he says.

Who’s Right for Me?

In addition to there being different investigative specialties, there are also different styles, focuses and personalities.

Paula Hayes, a private investigator and member of the North Carolina Association of Private Investigators (NCAPI), advises that there are many important things to look for when hiring a P.I.

First, ensure the P.I. is licensed through the state. Private Investigators are licensed through the Private Protective Services Board, a department of the NC Department of Public Safety, and you can search for licenses on the PPSB website. You should also ensure they are insured.

Last, Hayes says to take into account the relationship aspect: “Make sure they are suitable for you. You need to be able to trust this person. Can they give references? Do they subcontract? You just want to make sure you know exactly who you are working with,” she says.

Private Investigators know that if you’re coming to them, it’s generally not under happy circumstances, so discretion and mutual respect is as important as expertise. In any case, it’s easy to see why the job is so dramatically depicted, from the shroud of secrecy to the dire circumstances that bring you to their door; sad saxophone music, dark alleys and scotch seem only natural.