8/17/2012

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.

Bruja Brouhaha buy links:

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

Who Do, Voodoo? buy links:




***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.


20 comments:

  1. What fun to hear Liz! Thanks, Rochelle. JoAn

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  2. i'm not a fashioner, usually i wear t-shirt and jeans :)

    sounds a great book, Rochelle :)

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  3. wow this sounds great would love to win it
    thanks for the chance
    tammyjackson75@yahoo,com

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  4. JoAn, Eli, and Tammy—thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoy reading Bruja Brouhaha as much as I enjoyed writing it.

    Eli, T-shirt and jeans is my errand-running uniform. Liz's too :)
    ~Rochelle

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  5. I'm so excited! Another sleuthing adventure for LIz and Nick! ;)

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  6. HEY ROCHELLE !!

    I just love the titles of your books. They sound so fun.
    ~Angi

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  7. Fun fun books and a great mystery writer. Congratulations on your award nominations, Rochelle and for creating such fabulous characters.

    Hmmm fashion trends. Bell bottoms and the wide belts never did anything for me. Clunky shoes which seem to be making a come back either. Why not just buy a shoe box and put shoelaces on it :)

    I have book one & 2, and anxiously await book three. Write fast, Rochelle, the public demands it :))))

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  8. Congratulations on your 2nd book! Can't wait to read it!

    I loved, loved, loved Who Do, Voodoo! And it's an autographed copy too!

    Fashion-wise? Padded shoulders and the crazy patterns of the 80s/early 90s Never again.

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  9. Waving wildly at Jill, Angi, and Donnell—thanks for giving Liz and me such a warm welcome here at GLIAS. Love you all.

    Nan! So happy to see you here. Thank you from my heart on your lovely words about Who Do, Voodoo? Yes, ouch, padded shoulders. The Alexis Carrington linebacker look. What were we thinking?

    ~Rochelle

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  10. Ah, Rochelle - for me that would be the Annie Hall look. Baggy pants, suspenders, button down shirts with oversized vests, a quirky hat. Back then it was (on a good day) awfully cute. Now I would just look eccentric.

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    1. I adored that look, Harley! sigh. Are you sure we can't pull it off?
      ~Rochelle

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  11. Congratulations on the fabulous success of WDV, Rochelle, and here's to more of the same for BB! Love your interview with Liz.

    Fashion trend? This never was one, thank goodness, but in high school, I wore oversized blue chambray shirts that hung down to my knees. Oh, yeah, I was stylin'!

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    1. Thank you, Jane!
      Oh, yeah, you were stylin' in the chambray. Excellent plan to go oversize. A real statement :) I think I still have two chambrays in the back of my closet, waiting for a trend to begin.
      ~Rochelle

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  12. I was never much into fashion styles. It seemed when I could finally purchase the clothes it was something else. So I stopped and wear what I enjoy. I love dressing up. Love, love the fancy ball gowns. Your books sound fanatic.

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    1. I love fancy ball gowns too (thank you, Cinderella) but never had a real ball gown occasion to attend. *sigh* Someday :)
      Thanks so much for stopping by, Mary!

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  13. Loved this interview, Rochelle! I loved when overalls were in fashion. Shorts ones. They were so comfy. I still have a couple buried in a drawer just in case they come back. :)

    Congrats on your latest release! Can't wait to read it!

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  14. Thank you, Robin, and congratulations to you on your second book contract!

    My favorite part about wearing overall jeans back in the 90s was all the pockets. Love doing the casual pose with my hands in pockets :)
    ~Rochelle

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  15. Congrats on the book! No favorite fashion trend.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

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  16. Look at that cover! It's just as fun and eye-catching as WDV. :)

    I was surprised to see all that '80's bright color blocking back this fall. I don't want to do that again. I like plain "mom" clothes from Land's End or L.L.Bean, to the everlasting chagrin of my fashionable daughters.

    I still have "painter's pants" with tons of pockets I wear, especially when at amusement parks or shopping and I don't want to carry a big bag.

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  17. Great interview, Liz and Rochelle! Thanks for dropping by!

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