Patricia Obermeier Neuman
I graduated from Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis with a major in Journalism and a minor in English. A stay-at-home mom who later worked as a reporter, editor, and free-lance writer, I then switched my focus entirely to novel writing with my coauthor, the late Rosalind Burgess. We wrote and published seven books in THE VAL & KIT MYSTERY SERIES, as well as DRESSING MYSELF, a contemporary women’s novel. We were far along on the first draft of another contemporary women’s novel when I recently and devastatingly lost Roz to a brain aneurysm. My husband John and I have been married for 57 years and have three children and twelve grandchildren.
Fiction
The Disappearance of Mavis Woodstock, A Val & Kit Mystery
Blake Oliver Publishing
Realtor Valerie Pankowski, who has just signed her divorce papers and a lease on a new apartment, receives a call from a prospective client. Mavis Woodstock insists she has to sell her house as quickly as possible, but then doesn’t keep her scheduled appointment. Val’s lifelong BFF Kit remembers Mavis from their school days, an unattractive girl who was ignored when she was lucky, ridiculed when she was not. When Val and Kit cannot locate Mavis, they begin an investigation, encountering along the way a little romance, a lot of deception, and more than one unsavory character.
The Murder of Susan Reed, A Val & Kit Mystery
Blake Oliver Publishing
Kit suspects her husband Larry of having an affair with one of his employees, Susan Reed. The morning after a little stalking expedition by lifelong friends Val and Kit, Val reads in the newspaper that Susan was found shot to death right around the time Kit was certain Larry was with Susan. Did Larry murder her? The police, in the form of dishy Detective Dennis Culotta, conduct an investigation, hampered by Val and Kit’s insistent attempts to discover whether Larry is guilty of infidelity and/or murder. As the investigation heats up, so does Val’s relationship with Detective Culotta.
Death in Door County, A Val & Kit Mystery
Blake Oliver Publishing
Val embarks on a Mother’s Day visit to her mom in Door County, Wisconsin, a peninsula filled with artists, lighthouses, and natural beauty. She is accompanied by her daughter and her BFF Kit. They have barely unpacked their suitcases when trouble greets them, in the form of death and a disturbing secret they unwittingly brought with them. As they get to know the locals, things take a sinister turn. And when they suspect someone close to them might be involved in blackmail—or worse—Val and Kit do what they do best: they take matters into their own hands.
Lethal Property, A Val & Kit Mystery
Blake Oliver Publishing
Val is busy selling real estate, eager to take a potential buyer to visit the home of a widow living alone. He turns out not to be all that he claimed, and a string of grisly events follows, culminating in a perilous situation for Val. Her lifelong BFF Kit, however, is ready to do whatever necessary to ensure Val’s safety and clear her name of any wrongdoing, and soon the ladies are embroiled in a murder investigation extraordinaire. Along the way, they get help from the dishy Detective Dennis Culotta, Val’s boss, and a Downton Abbey–loving Rottweiler named Roscoe.
Palm Desert Killing, A Val & Kit Mystery
Blake Oliver Publishing
When Val receives a mysterious letter, she and Kit begin to unravel a sordid story that spans a continent and reaches back decades. It also takes them to Palm Desert, California, a paradise of palm trees, mountains, blue skies . . . and now murder. The men in their lives—Val’s favorite detective, Dennis Culotta; her boss, Tom Haskins; and Kit’s husband, Larry—play their (un)usual parts in this adventure that introduces a fresh batch of suspicious characters, including Kit’s New York–attorney sister and their mother. Val faces an additional challenge when her daughter reveals her own startling news.
Foreign Relations, A Val & Kit Mystery
Blake Oliver Publishing
Val and Kit visit the bucolic English village where Val’s actress daughter and son-in-law are temporarily living. They revel in the English countryside, despite Val’s ex-husband showing up and some troubling news from home. The harmony of the village is soon broken, however, by the vicious murder of one of their new friends. The shocking events that follow are only slightly more horrific than one from the past that continues to confound authorities. The crimes threaten to involve Val’s daughter, so the lifelong BFFs return to their roles as amateur sleuths, employing their own inimitable ways.
Knowing People, A Val & Kit Mystery
Blake Oliver Publishing
Without leaving their Chicago suburb, Val and Kit manage to go global as they become unwittingly embroiled in a deadly intrigue when Val’s brother Buddy shows up. The retired Navy officer comes with secrets that both tantalize and terrify his little sister. Luckily, she has Kit. She also has her “detective friend” Dennis Culotta, but Val can’t decide if he’s more help or hindrance as he seems to match her brother secret for secret. Meanwhile, Kit becomes distracted when her son appears with yet another secret for the lifelong BFFs to untangle.
Dressing Myself
Blake Oliver Publishing
Meet Jessie Harleman in this contemporary women’s novel about love, lust, friends, and family. Jessie and Kevin have been happily married for twenty-eight years. With their two grown kids now out of the house, they have reached the point they thought they longed for, yet slightly dreaded. But the house that used to burst at the seams now has too many empty rooms. Still, Jessie is a glass-half-full kind of woman, eager for this next period of her life to take hold. The problem is, nothing goes the way she planned. This novel explores growth and change and new beginnings.