Bubbles Yablonsky
Bubbles Yablonsky is the fictional protagonist of the Bubbles series of screwball mysteries by Sarah Strohmeyer. She first appeared in Bubbles Unbound, published in 2001; as of 2006, she has appeared in six novels by Strohmeyer strictly about Bubbles, with an extra cameo in Strohmeyers "The Cinderella Pact," appearing as a friend of the main character's sister.
Bubbles Unbound got the Agatha Award for best first novel in 2001. It has been translated to French in 2006 (Bubbles se lâche - Fleuve Noir - ISBN 2-265-08217-1 ).
The character
Bubbles is a high-energy beautician-cum-rookie-reporter. She is a divorced single mom, self-described as a "Polish-Lithuanian Barbie doll in Lehigh, Pennsylvania," a town based loosely on Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She appears as a kind of hybrid between Marilyn Monroe and Columbo.
She has an ex-husband, "Dan the Man", and a daughter, Jane, a rebellious teenager with Kool-Aid colored hair and black lipstick. Bubbles has a degree in journalism and is a freelance reporter for the local newspaper, The Lehigh News-Times.
The series covers adventures and misadventures with Bubbles and other characters - Steve Stiletto (a photojournalist and Mel Gibson lookalike), Lulu Yablonsky (Bubbles's mother), Genevieve (a gun-toting septuagenarian), Sandy (her best friend and salon owner), and Lorena Ludwig (a photographer with The News-Times with anger management issues).
Books in the Bubbles series
- Bubbles Unbound - 2001 - Dutton Adult, ISBN 0-525-94580-6
- Bubbles In Trouble - 2002 - Dutton Adult, ISBN 0-525-94649-7
- Bubbles Ablaze - 2003 - Dutton Adult, ISBN 0-525-94738-8
- Bubbles a Broad - 2004 - Dutton Adult, ISBN 0-525-94798-1
- Bubbles Betrothed - 2005 - Dutton Adult, ISBN 0-525-94864-3
- Bubbles All The Way - 2006 - Onyx, ISBN 0-451-41227-3