Babs Norman sits down for a Q&A with dru’s book musings responding to ten or more questions so we can learn more about her. Are you ready? Let’s get to know Babs.
What is your full name?
Barbara Ann Norman, but I hate being called that. Just call me Babs Norman, which used to be my stage name as well. I changed my name to hide from my crazy ex-husband, Troy Ulsterman, but my maiden name was Norman. Since he always manages to track me down, I guess I didn’t change it enough. Maybe I should’ve changed it to Mae West, but that name is already taken, and I look nothing like her. Maybe Mae Best? I’m just pulling your leg.
How old are you?
You’re never supposed to ask a woman her age, especially if she was a former actress before she became a licensed private investigator, but now I’m thirty.
What is your profession?
I’m a bona fide private investigator. In 1943, there aren’t many women in that profession, especially in Hollywood. You know…there’s a funny story about how that came about, and it had something to do with a famous cemetery. Whoops! No spoilers.
If you have a significant other, what is their name and profession?
I’ve had a terrible track record and have been unlucky in love. Solving my cases had always taken priority over romantic entanglements, which never seemed to pay the bills. A crime scene photographer has taken a liking toward me, but he believes a woman’s place should be in the home, and I disagree. Looks like the writing is on the wall for him. However, this time around, I’ll be getting married. It’s not what you think, but I can’t spoil the surprise.
Do you have any children?
No, and that’s probably a good thing. I work long, crazy hours, and my menagerie takes up way too much time.
Who is your best friend?
My private eye partner, Guy Brandt. His real name is Gary Brandt, but too many people got it confused with Cary Grant, so he goes by Guy. And, by the way, Guy likes guys. I’ll leave it at that. That’s a taboo topic in 1943. Somehow, he gets lucky in the realm of romance while I always strike out.
Do you have cats, dogs, or other pets?
I can’t stand to see a stray in distress, so I’m always rescuing animals of all sorts. In fact, our first high-profile case involved celebrity dognappings—ones owned by celebrities and also those featured in films. Between Basil Rathbone hiring us to find his missing Cocker Spaniel and MGM hiring us to find Asta, the canine star of The Thin Man films, we had a lot to bark about.
During that case, my partner and I adopted…well, actually, the dog adopted us…an Irish Wolfhound, who I named Sir Henry of the Baskervilles or Sir Henry, for short, after The Hound of the Baskervilles, a famous Sherlock Holmes story in which Basil Rathbone starred as Holmes back in 1939 with Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson. Although not formally trained, Sir Henry is a skilled tracker and search-and-rescue dog. We also ended up adopting Bruno, a lazy bulldog. Trained by Asta’s trainer, Bruno was supposed to go to Clark Gable. My partner, Guy, and I wound up with him instead.
These two dogs are our permanent pets, but somehow we always wind up with other critters of all kinds. When we rescued the cast of The Maltese Falcon from the Blackbird Killer, we got stuck with a foul-mouthed, wisecracking myna bird. Now, we’re dealing with two gigantic blue hyacinth macaws—Pedro and Petunia. They also talk, but they fight, causing the neighbors to complain in our office building on Hollywood Boulevard. When I try to take them home, if they get out, they attack my nosy neighbor’s dog. I’m beside myself. Can’t seem to win no matter what I try.
What town do you live in?
Hollywood, California. Couldn’t imagine living anywhere else.
What type of dwelling do you own or rent?
That’s a funny story… When I first moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles to make my mark (and maybe put my hand and footprints in the cement in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard) I felt like a vagabond. Work as an actress or model was scarce, and I could never pay my rent. Landlords frequently evicted me. I stayed wherever I could, from camping out in my office to seedy residential hotels. When we solved the celebrity dognapping dilemma, William Powell’s wife gave me the keys to her two-bedroom cottage in the Hollywood Hills. To save money, I’ve rented out my spare room to a tenant—and that’s a whole other story and more trouble!
Do you have any hobbies?
If you consider going to the movies a hobby. Otherwise, who has time? I always find myself in the middle of some crisis. I used to be an actress. So, of course, I love the movies.
If you were to write a memoir, what would you call it?
Oh, gosh… Private Eyes and Fruit Flies. No, that sounds stupid, but I’ve heard California has a problem with fruit flies. Whatever you do, don’t call me a pet detective. Snoops and Poops? Gee-whiz, that’s even worse. How could I name my memoir after dog poop, even though there’s no lack of that in my life. Sneaky Squeaky & the Gumshoe Blues? That might be stretching it a bit, but it sure sounds intriguing. I might have to hire my friend Dashiell Hammett to be my ghostwriter.
Amateur or professional sleuth and whom do you work with?
Despite getting sneers from the Los Angeles or Burbank Police Departments and the FBI, my partner and I are professionals all the way. We’d much rather avoid the LAPD, who never seem cooperative, and often need to recruit the actors we’re trying to protect to solve our crimes. Most of the clients we’ve worked with on our high-profile cases have either been famous movie stars, producers, or heads of major motion picture studios. Because they’re paying us, they are much more cooperative than the local cops.
ROUND UP THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
Series Name: A Babs Norman’s Golden Age of Hollywood Mystery, Book 3
Genre: Historical Mystery (1940s)
Release: January 2026
Format: Print, Digital
Purchase Link
Against the backdrop of WWII, no one expected to find a murdered stagehand on a Warner Brothers sound stage. With so much at stake, Jack L. Warner hires Babs Norman and Guy Brandt, the two young private eyes who recently resolved his high-profile Maltese Falcon/Blackbird Killer Case. Social justice crusader Leon Lewis suspects local Nazi sympathizers are responsible. Lewis assigns a German stuntman, a veteran of the decadent subculture of Weimar Berlin nightlife and one of his newest operatives, to join forces with the private detectives.
According to Warner, the show must go on, but everything from bomb scares to the Japanese internment, to unruly parrots, forbidden love, and family crises conspires against solving the crime. “As Time Goes By,” actors Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and the rest of the Casablanca ensemble join the professional private eyes to round up the unusual suspects and capture the killer.
About the author
Elizabeth Crowens has worn many hats in the entertainment industry, contributed fiction and non-fiction to Black Belt, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazines, Hell’s Heart, and A New York State of Fright, and has a popular Caption Contest on Facebook. Awards include: MWA-NY Chapter Leo B. Burstein Scholarship, NYFA grant, Eric Hoffer Award, Glimmer Train, Killer Nashville Claymore finalist, Killer Nashville Top Picks, two Grand prize, and six First prize Chanticleer Awards. Crowens writes historical Hollywood mystery in Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles, Agatha nominee for Best First Mystery Novel and Bye Bye Blackbird and alternate history in her Time Traveler Professor series. Reach out to Elizabeth at www.elizabethcrowens.com.