Babs Norman, here, and I’m no amateur sleuth. I’m a former frustrated actress who gave it all up to run my own private detective agency on Hollywood Boulevard. Everyone assumes that my partner, Guy Brandt, heads B. Norman Investigations, because he’s male. Therefore, I’m constantly having to prove that I run the show. Our typical day involves tending to our menagerie of strays, consisting of a gargantuan Irish Wolfhound, Sir Henry of the Baskervilles. Where did he get that name? He helped us crack a case involving celebrity canines, which started with Basil Rathbone’s missing Cocker spaniel. Don’t know who he is? When Basil contacted the police, they laughed and said, “Sherlock Holmes has lost his dog!” Then there’s Bruno, the bulldog, who acts more like a doorstop, and my partner and I got stuck with a foul-mouthed, wisecracking myna bird, who’s had nicknames from Cagney, because he’s impersonated him, to Stu, as in myna bird stew. If he doesn’t cease his annoying hijinks, Guy says he’ll make a stew out of him. Since I’m a sucker for animals, boxes of abandoned kittens tend to appear at our door. Other than managing our zoo, we plow through the Times and the entertainment trades, scavenging for new assignments.
This time around, our first murder came to us! Up till now, we snooped on cheating spouses, located missing persons, tackled insurance fraud, skip traced, and rounded up celebrity dogs in our last high-profile affair. But that all changed when a Jane Doe, dressed in an oversized coat with something feathery sticking out, tumbled into our office. Right after she arrived, Humphrey Bogart knocked on our door holding an Egyptian canopic jar containing a mummified crow that somebody had left on his doorstep. Too weird, right? The female corpse reminded us of Captain Jacoby in Dashiell Hammett’s novel, The Maltese Falcon, and guess who was in the middle of filming that movie? You get the drift.
The fun part of our new case was meeting and working with amazing stars: Bogie, of course, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook, Jr., and director, John Huston, among others, including studio mogul, Jack L. Warner. The downside? One by one, this crazy killer started threatening the entire cast of The Maltese Falcon with these macabre souvenirs. My sidekick and I had to learn everything you’d want to know about taxidermy, but were afraid to ask.
Bye Bye Blackbird: A Babs Norman Golden Age of Hollywood Mystery, Book 2
Genre: Traditional, Historical Detective with Humor
Release: January 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
In the summer of 1941, Hollywood heats up again when Humphrey Bogart arrives right after a female corpse with a dead bird stuffed inside her overcoat topples into the office of B. Norman Investigations. While filming The Maltese Falcon, Bogie found a mysterious ancient Egyptian hawk artifact on his doorstep containing a mummified black bird. Someone with dark intentions threatens the main cast, one by one, leaving dead birds, from crows to falcons, as their calling cards.
While more murders pile up, jeopardizing the film from being finished, Bogie hires private eyes Babs Norman and Guy Brandt, infuriating his volatile third wife, Mayo Methot, or Sluggy, as she’s known in some circles. Unraveling the personal lives of Mary Astor, John Huston, Sydney Greenstreet, Elisha Cook, Jr., Peter Lorre, and Jack L. Warner in their quirky, humorous way, the PIs turn the underbelly of Tinseltown upside down to stop the crazed killer from claiming another victim.
About the author
Elizabeth Crowens has worn many hats in the entertainment industry, contributed stories to Black Belt, Black Gate, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazines, Hell’s Heart, and the Bram Stoker-nominated A New York State of Fright, and has a popular Caption Contest on Facebook. Awards include: Leo B. Burstein Scholarship from the MWA-NY Chapter, an NYFA grant, Eric Hoffer and Glimmer Train Awards, a Killer Nashville Claymore finalist, two Grand prize, and six First prize Chanticleer Awards. Crowens writes multi-genre alternate history, time travel, and historical Hollywood mystery in Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles and Bye Bye Blackbird. The third book in the Babs Norman series, Round Up the Unusual Suspects, involving the cast of Casablanca (here we go with Bogie, again) will be out in early 2026. Connect with Elizabeth at elizabethcrowens.com.