My Books
Satire with a reporter's eye and a comedian's timing
Seeking Representation
Sex, Real Estate, and Bad Decisions in Downtown LA
A British lothario librarian, a homeless man, an aging anchorwoman, a bisexual writer, and an aspiring Black comic are a few of the Downtown denizens caught up in exhibitionism, infidelity, bribery, and stand-up comedy who draw Nora into their dysfunctional world.
Welcome to Downtown LA where the rent is high, the stakes are higher, and the neighbors are the highest of all. Nora is a proper surgeon's wife who travels to Los Angeles from her posh home in San Francisco to settle a real estate deal while grappling with her own issues of empty nest syndrome. She quickly becomes entangled with a gaggle of quirky Angelenos, each one dripping with ambition, sexual desire, and something that might stick to your shoes. Together they navigate the city's wild terrain of real estate roulette, relationship misadventures, and one crazy idea for a porn site that might just be crazy enough to change Nora's life.
This upmarket screwball comedy about Los Angeles offers readers the urban ensemble charm of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series with the misfit entourage trope of Amazon's The Outlaws.
The novel is a fun, fast read with bite-size chapters that has been developmentally edited by an Emmy Award-winning comedy writer and instructor at UCLA ... a humorous and heartwarming ode to the messy beauty of not only one's chosen family, but one's chosen city.
📚 Seeking Literary Representation
This completed novel is actively seeking a literary agent. Interested agents can reach out via the contact page.
Murder at the Mailbox
Clari Drake returns, pursuing a spanking good story into the darkest corners of the city everyone loves to laugh at. Join Clari on deadline as she investigates the intersection of lust, betrayal and — podiatry in The People's Republic.
A seemingly ordinary day turns deadly when a body is discovered at a neighborhood mailbox. As Clari investigates, she uncovers a tangled web of neighborhood feuds, hidden relationships, and long-buried secrets. This mystery brings crime reporting experience to vivid fictional life.
Finding Clarity
The first novel Introducing Clari Drake in the People's Republic of Berkeley. A laugh-out-loud romp that blends satire and mystery in the city of Birkenstocks and woolen socks.
Clari Drake is a failed TV reporter-turned-troublemaker mom caught in a world of progressive politics, social climbers, and tech wealth. With her quirky sidekicks, Clari uncovers a web of fraud, fake identity, and gender-bending secrets at her son's posh academy, forcing her to confront her own limits and the elite she loves to hate.
Reader Praise
What readers love about the Clari Drake mysteries
Finding Clarity
As funny as Janet Evanovich, as clever a plotter as Sue Grafton, and as deft in creating compelling characters as Laura Lippman. I had trouble putting the novel down once I started.
Laugh-out-loud funny. I was the crazy lady on the bus for the five days I spent with the novel. Made up of characters that seem real and emotions that feel genuine.
The voice reminds me so much of Bridget Jones Diary. It's impossible not to fall in love with Clari Drake — a funny, smart, self-deprecating mom.
A genre-bending, page-turning ride. Combining a reporter's eye for detail and observations that only a mother could make, Novak's comedic take on class, career, motherhood, and the backbiting politics of a California private school offers up a satiric farce with its own unique female voice. Highly recommended — I'm looking forward to the movie!
Murder at the Mailbox
Laura Novak delivers a great story! This fast-paced murder mystery opens with a bang and doesn't stop once. The author is not afraid to go anywhere for a laugh!
Thank the Lord of Books: Clari Drake is back! Novak's gift for characterization rounds out one of her best characters yet, taking readers through the fast-paced plot with humor and grace.
She's back — bigger and badder than ever! Berkeley's mom/journalist/sleuth is up to her neck in Halloween hijinks. A delightful, fast-paced read.
A classic female sleuth mystery. Clari Drake could turn Berkeley into a setting for the most delicious television series, a BBC-type heroine residing stateside on the Left Coast. Drake is quick, quirky, and curious. Novak's snappy style is full of humor and wordplay.This is a series that can only get better!