Get lost in a Bruja, Brouhaha...

...with author Rochelle Staab and sleuthy psychologist, Liz Cooper.

There’s nothing like celebrating with friends, so it’s a true pleasure for me to be here to share my excitement over the release of my second novel, Bruja Brouhaha. 

Readers of my first novel already know Liz Cooper, the Los Angeles psychologist with a distaste and mistrust about the supernatural. In Who Do, Voodoo? Liz sets aside her mystical doubts to team with handsome occult expert Nick Garfield to track a harasser. Their journey leads to murder, a voodoo curse, and otherworldly secrets. And attraction.

In Liz’s second adventure, Bruja Brouhaha, a mid-city clinic assignment near historic MacArthur Park sends her into the midst of local mayhem, a puzzling disappearance, and a vindictive Santeria hex. Liz and new love Nick help an elderly Santera through a heart-breaking tragedy with repercussions that test their new relationship and Liz’s professional ethics. 

Today I’m stepping aside to let my talented amateur sleuth, Liz Cooper answer a few personal questions. Liz? You’re on!

Psst! 

Liz’s creator Rochelle Staab is a former award-winning Top 40 radio programmer and Warner Bros. Records advertising and marketing executive. She blends her fascination with the supernatural and her love for mystery in her national bestselling, Golden Heart®, Anthony, and Agatha Award-nominated Mind For Murder Mystery series on Berkley Prime Crime. 

Meet Liz Cooper, heroine of Rochelle Staab’s Mind For Murder Mystery Series

Rochelle: Where do you read and how often? 

LIZ: Every night I curl up in bed with a novel (or Nick Garfield, but I digress). Book in my lap, pillows propped behind me, blanket to my waist, the deeper I’m into a story, the more I fight drooping lids. Give me a great book and I’ll fight to stay awake for one more chapter. Then another. You know.  

Rochelle: What’s your favorite “love” word? 

LIZ: Cherish. I love a lot of people and things, but I cherish the magnetism, trust, and passion I feel when I’m with Nick. 

Rochelle: Be honest, Rochelle writes you in 1st person...do you miss the hero’s POV?

LIZ: YES! Give me the opportunity to delve into Nick’s mind, please. An inside scoop on how he feels about us, why he’s drawn to the occult, what he’s thinking about the future, and what he won’t talk about from his past. Cut a girl a break here with some inside skinny.

Rochelle: What turns you off like nothing else? 

LIZ: Insistence on turning to the supernatural—fortunetellers, psychics, wishes, charms, or luck—to sort out personal issues. People: Your answers are found within, not from an invisible, mystical source. Makes me crazy. (Shrink joke.) 

Rochelle: What’s your favorite cartoon character? 

LIZ: As a kid I read a lot of Donald Duck comics, proving I was drawn to danger at a very early age. Donald was a happy-go-lucky duck but he tended to fall into situations over his head. Oddly familiar lately. 

Rochelle: What’s your favorite movie of all time? 

LIZ: Bull Durham came out when I was a teen. A lifelong baseball fan, I fantasized being Annie Savoy—sitting in the stands under my umbrella watching my baseball player boyfriend at bat, flirting with him in a batting cage, and reading poetry to him at night in my eclectic cottage with a baseball shrine in the corner. I credit Bull Durham (and a pair of blue eyes) for my instant crush on the star pitcher of the varsity team when I got to college. Jarret Cooper even looked a like Kevin Costner to me. Well, same hair. I married him after graduation. Jarret became a professional ballplayer and for a while my fantasy came true. I emphasize “a while.” Our divorce four years ago wasn’t pretty. Jarret was no Crash Davis (and he’s certainly no Nick Garfield.) But I still count Bull Durham at or near the top of my movie faves. Annie Savoy had amazing taste in clothes.

Rochelle: Which era would you least like to have lived in, fashion-wise and why? 

LIZ: Least? The S-bends corsets and pigeon pouter effect of the Edwardian era. Too many clothes, cinches, fabric—apparently breathing wasn’t a priority back then. Most? The Jazz Age. Reckless, rebellious flappers in flirty fringe. I love wearing vintage-inspired clothing. In BRUJA BROUHAHA, my dress for the Park Clinic fundraiser has a flapper vibe. 

Liz has a question for commenters: 

Experts warn us never to repeat a fashion trend in our lifetime. I remember the Doc Martens and bib overalls I thought I looked so cool in at college. Do you have a favorite fashion trend you wore and wish you could wear again but can’t or won’t? 

Rochelle will send an autographed copy of BRUJA BROUHAHA to one lucky commenter, chosen at random.

Website: www.rochellestaab.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rochelle.staab

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/rochellestaab

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4705211.Rochelle_Staab

Bruja Brouhaha buy links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Bruja-Brouhaha-Mind-Murder-Mystery/dp/0425251497/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323113450&sr=8-1

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bruja-brouhaha-rochelle-staab/1107385385?ean=9780425251492

Who Do, Voodoo? buy links:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Who-Voodoo-Mind-Murder-Mystery/dp/0425244598/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1344994725&sr=1-1&keywords=who+do+voodoo

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/who-do-voodoo-rochelle-staab/1111848182?ean=9780425244593

***Note: Offer void where prohibited. Prizes will be mailed to North America  addresses only. If an Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) is available, the author may utilize that option for International participants. Odds of winning vary due to the number of entrants.