A Babs Norman Hollywood Mystery: Book 1
Publication Date: March 5, 2024
“Sherlock Holmes has lost his dog? We have bigger crimes to solve. Go find him yourself!” That’s what the Los Angeles Police Department told Basil Rathbone. The City Pound ridiculed him as well.
Asta, the dog from the popular Thin Man series, has also vanished, and production for his next film is pending. MGM Studios offers a huge reward, and that’s exactly what young private detectives Babs Norman and Guy Brandt need for their struggling business to survive. Celebrity dognapping now a growing trend, Basil also hires them to find his missing Cocker Spaniel.
The three concoct a plan for Basil to assume his on-screen persona and round up possible suspects, including Myrna Loy and William Powell; Dashiell Hammett, creator of The Thin Man; Nigel Bruce, Basil’s on-screen Doctor Watson; Hollywood-newcomer, German philanthropist and film financier Countess Velma von Rache, and the top animal trainers in Tinseltown. Yet everyone will be in for a shock when the real reason behind the canine disappearances is even more sinister than imagined.
Jump into Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles, Book One of thecBabs Norman Golden Age of Hollywood Mystery series, Finalist in the Killer Nashville Claymore Awards for Comedy and First Prize winner in the Chanticleer Review’s Mark Twain Awards for Comedy and Satire.
Get ready for its sequel, Bye, Bye, Blackbird, featuring Humphrey Bogart and the cast of The Maltese Falcon.
When famous actor Basil Rathbone loses his dog, he brings in Babs Norman and Guy Brandt, young private detectives, to find it. But things are more than they seem in Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles by Elizabeth Crowens.
Babs and Guy are struggling in their business. But when Basil Rathbone asks for their help to find his dog, their fortunes seem to turn. As they investigate the dog’s disappearance, they discover other disappeared dogs, including Asta, the star of The Thin Man series. The more they discover, the more questions are raised, and a deeper plot comes to the surface.
I realized early on that while this book advertises itself as a “Humorous Mystery,” it was very much a Cozy Mystery, but I was ready to give it a chance as I enjoy an old Hollywood setting. My reservations quickly became deep concerns as the book continued. It felt like the author was a huge fan of old Hollywood and wanted to flaunt her knowledge by bringing in everyone working in Hollywood at that time.
The story went in a million different directions, and multiple sections felt utterly disconnected and unnecessary to the plot. Not only that, but the plot went from zero to sixty in one chapter flat. We go from dog kidnappings to Nazis and a hostage situation. It didn’t make sense.
The characters were classic, cozy characters. The main character, Babs, is beautiful without even trying. All the men are attracted to her. She is the cleverest person, and even if she does something that would leave most people considering her a horrible person, it all works out in her favor, and everyone loves her. What bothered me most was how the author wrote Ouida Rathbone. Like most of the characters in this book, Ouida was an actual person, and the way Crowens wrote her was downright disrespectful. She wrote her as a jealous, rude witch who didn’t deserve Basil and who treated Babs horribly because of her own insecurities. If an author wants to create their own character like that, fine. I don’t think it is a good way to demonstrate women supporting women, but that is the author’s prerogative. But to take a real person and disrespect them in that manner was unforgivable.
Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles is a callback to Hollywood’s “golden age” and a classic cozy mystery that fans of the genre may enjoy.
Elizabeth Crowens has worn many hats in the entertainment industry and has a popular Caption Contest on Facebook. She has three award-winning alternate history novels. Awards include 2020 Leo B. Burstein Scholarship from the MWA-NY Chapter, New York Foundation of the Arts grant, an Eric Hoffer Award, Honorable Mention in the Glimmer Train Awards, and two grand prize and five first prize Chanticleer Awards, including Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles, the first in her Babs Norman Hollywood Mystery series, which is also a Killer Nashville Claymore Awards finalist and part of her three-book publishing deal with Level Best Books.
