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Meet Barbara Toohey
Fourteen years ago I wrote to about 15 authors living in and around Santa Barbara, wondering if they needed any help. I’d worked for a writer many years previous and thought it would be a fun thing to do again. I didn’t hear back from any of them. Then, 3 months later, I had a phone message from Sue asking if we could meet because she needed help. Truth be told, I had to run right down to the bookstore to see what she wrote. Shame on me. I stood in front of shelf after shelf of books by Sue Grafton and whispered in my own ear, “Eureka.”
It’s been 13 years now since I became a member of the family. I continue to faithfully venture to the post office twice each week so the mail doesn’t get too far behind. About 1350 visits to date by my calculation. Some time ago I got the idea that having a list of characters from each book might be useful so I took it upon myself to go thru the books and extract names of characters, and even names of pets. Another thought was to ‘note-post-it’ characters, repeating places, towns, streets, Kinsey’s habits, etc., and I do this after each book is published. And, I do just about anything else Sue asks me to.
Some of you may be interested that I do have a day job that I’m not about to give up. I embarked on a new career relatively late in life that I just love. For the past few years I’ve been the statistical Crime Analyst for the Santa Barbara Police Department. No . . . no blood and guts. All computers. I’m the person everyone comes to when they want to know what’s happening where and when, what might happen in the future, and how we can be better prepared. My job is very challenging, I get to go to school from time to time, and I’ve made some wonderful new friends.
I continue to receive letters from fans wanting my job as Sue’s personal assistant but it’s never going to happen. I’m not getting any younger -- gee, I wonder why, but I for one am certainly going to hang in there with Sue ‘til ‘Z’ is for . . . and hope you all do too.
Barbara Toohey
March 2007
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