Bubbles Yablonsky

Cover of the French edition of Bubbles Unbound

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