Barbara Seranella Dies

As usual, Kevin Roderick of LA Observed says it best when he notes the death this last weekend of crime novelist Barbara Seranella, the 50-year-old author of the Miranda “Munch” Mancini series (An Unacceptable Death, Unwilling Accomplice, etc.):

The best-selling mystery author from Laguna Beach died yesterday in Cleveland while awaiting a liver transplant. She had received two livers in 2005 and spent much time since at USC’s University Hospital. On December 31, the L.A. Times’s Current section ran a piece from Seranella about her health issues and hope for a better 2007:

“I have dedicated every shooting star, broken wishbone and blown-out birthday candle to the same thing during the last year: I want my health back. You see, I have been chosen. Don’t get too excited or wish that it could have been you. I’m one of those people in the midst of a ‘courageous battle,’ the kind you read about in the obits once the battle is over (read: ‘lost’) ...

“Please Mr. Wizard, I want to go home. I am ready to be healthy again. I am having another transplant soon. It will restore my health. I will no longer have yellow eyeballs, or hippopotamus legs. I will have the stamina to stay awake all day and play with my friends and my dog. I will travel and not need a wheelchair. I will be a sightseer in my own town and take walking tours of Los Angeles. I have never seen the Watts Tower or Disney Hall. I will go treasure hunting at the beach and maybe try to learn salsa dancing.”

Oh, the places I’ll go and the things I’ll do.”

Seranella’s latest novel, Deadman’s Switch--featuring a new protagonist, Charlotte Lyon--is due to be published by St. Martin’s Minotaur in April.

READ MORE: “Barbara Seranella--An Appreciation,” by Denise Hamilton (LA Observed); “Mystery Writer Dies at 50,” by Robin Hinch (The Orange County Register).