“OOPS. A DEAD BODY”
It is not often that North Hollywood is a “character” in a novel. Today, we are interviewing Patricia Bowman-Stein, author of “OOPS A DEAD BODY.”
Give us a synopsis on “OOPS A DEAD BODY.”
Maribelle Rosen, a Jewish grandmother and friends, Kate Flannery and Annie Fitzsimmons, also grandma’s but Irish Catholics, discover a murder. This debut cozy mystery based on a true incident that happened to the author and friends, contains a wee bit of Irish wisdom and a little Yiddish humor to soften the threats, peace and safety of their beloved North Hollywood. The very neighborhood where they and loved ones have lived for years. The ladies run amok when a second homicide also occurs. Their friend, Harry Barry has his own masculine theories and interferes. More lady friends enter the fray with their differing opinions and fashion savvy. Jimmy Choo Shoes and luncheon dates take on more importance than cleaning up the streets. Amid the chaos, Maribelle Rosen vows to find the killer against everyone’s advice, including Detective O’Malley’s. Abandoned and threatened, she birddogs the suspect and gets into trouble. This yenta grandmother won’t quit. Even when she’s called to babysit her granddaughter, she tells her son she can’t because “she’s visiting a neighbor” but neglects to mention, “A neighbor beginning rigor mortis.”
Tell us a little about You.
I live in North Hollywood and am married to Miklos Gyulai. I am a retired Film and Television Script Supervisor and Equity Union Theatre Stage Manager after first beginning as a professional ballet dancer. I have worked as a reporter on Lundberg’s Inweek, (based in North Hollywood) an oil industry weekly, for several years and was a writer and stage manager for Women In News for Cable TV L.A. hosted by Attorney Gloria Allred. My first short story The Long Goodbye was published 2005, in the book, A Flash of Red, Spider Thief Publishing, Canada. The book sold in the U.S., Canada and U.K. My most fun writing was winning the Alaska Airlines Jingle Contest presented by the L.A. Times. I enjoyed driving Sunset Boulevard seeing my ads on billboards and magazines at newsstands carrying the print copy.
WHAT GAVE YOU THE INSPIRATION TO WRITE THIS STORY?
I wanted to write about where I live and while I was thinking of a plot; one of us grandmothers actually found a dead body that week.
What can we expect in the future from you?
I’m working on Book Two of the Oops Series entitled “OOPS THE MERMAID TURNED DEADLY based on a seafaring tail/tale & NoHo” and would like to write a serious expose of California’s Oil Industry in the 1950’s based on corruption, sex, violence and murder.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE ASPIRING WRITERS?
Write what you know. Write what you love. Write everyday and never give up.
WHERE CAN ONE READ YOUR BOOK?
in print and ebook for the Nook www.barnesandnoble.com (U.S. and U.K.)
in print and ebook for the Kindle www.amazon.com (book is selling in English in 11 countries.
http://www.patricia-bowman-stein.com/
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