Phillip Mottaz

ALLi Author Member

Location: United States of America (the)

Genres: Crime, Mystery, Other, Humour

Skills: Reading/Literary Event, Press/Media Interview, Performance/Spoken Word

Phillip Mottaz wrote his first novel when he was only 39. After growing up in Illinois’ smallest city, he studied improv and sketch comedy in Chicago. Since moving to Los Angeles, he has written every kind of script imaginable, and produced multiple podcasts. His debut novel “The Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air” is a cozy mystery in his Psychic Barber Mysteries series. His new series -- The Gallagher Brothers Mysteries -- will reunite feuding brothers Liam and Noel not to play music, but to solve a murder.

Phillip Mottaz's books

The Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air

CUT HAIR - READ MINDS - SOLVE A MURDER

Make your appointment for a fun amateur sleuth story that's one part "The Long Goodbye," dabs of "Blanche on the Lam" and "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" with just a little X-Men mixed in, too.

DANICA LUMAN has used her secret psychic abilities to squeeze by in the San Fernando Valley. Her powers help her give great haircuts - she sees into customers' minds and knows exactly what styles they want. Things are steady until one day, while giving a strange man a high-and-tight, the image Danica sees is of a dead body.

What Danica lacks in detective training, she makes up for in stubbornness. She takes on the role of amateur detective only to sink deeper into the muddy mystery, with each clue dragging her further into the weird underbelly of Los Angeles. Fighting off unpaid bills, attempts on her life and dangerous family squabbles, Danica gets tangled up trying to solve the murder and discover how it connects to the cops, a student newspaper, and an old man who calls himself "the Mayor of Bel Air."

The Homicidal Hairstyle of the Viral Video Vixen

LIKE. SHARE... KIDNAP.

THE HOMICIDAL HAIRSTYLE OF THE VIRAL VIDEO VIXEN is the second PSYCHIC BARBER MYSTERY, the series that's one part "Long Goodbye," a healthy portion of "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie," with just a dash of the X-Men. If you ever wished one of the messed-up characters from a Lucy Foley novel had psychic abilities, these are the books for you.

"THE HOMICIDAL HAIRSTYLE OF THE VIRAL VIDEO VIXEN finds DANICA LUMAN - professional hairstylist/amateur detective/secret psychic - back in Los Angeles and back in danger. After surviving her first case by the skin of her teeth, she has sworn off adventure to focus on simply earning a living. Her new source of income? Doing hair and makeup for an internet video crew.

But just when Danica sees a distressing vision about viral sensation Sofi Starr, the web celeb goes missing. Danica's only chance to join the search party and secure a substantial reward is to collaborate with her worst enemy: the tarot-card-reading, crystal-ball-gazing 'psychic' Madame Lorena.

With just three days to forage for clues in Sofi Starr's strange house, Danica must navigate bitter in-fighting, fake friendships, over-eager super fans and first-time sleuths with more enthusiasm than brains.

Pearls Before Fine (a short mystery from the Psychic Barber literary universe)

A short mystery about veteran private eye Malcolm Fine, one of the colorful side characters featured in the novel 'The Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air.'

Set almost a month before the events of that book, here Malcolm faces his greatest challenge yet: trying to appear as a legitimate private investigator to fulfill a legal, taxable obligation.

He considers bailing on the PI game entirely, but gets pulled back in by an old colleague who offers what sounds like a simple stakeout job. Few things go simply in Malcolm's world, and he's pushed to the brink of giving up the life entirely. Maybe he's not cut out for this kind of work.

(This also contains a teaser "clip" from the full novel, The Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air, the first in the Psychic Barber Mystery series, and a fun amateur sleuth story that's one part "The Long Goodbye," dabs of "Blanche on the Lam" and "Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie" with just a little X-Men mixed in, too.)

The Sequins of Events (a short mystery from the Psychic Barber literary universe)

You loved to hate him as Danica Luman's foil in Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air. Now Gene the sassy stylist is back in his own dramatic mystery adventure... The Sequins of Events!

Set concurrent to the events of the first Psychic Barber Mystery story, Gene arrives late for a gig MC'ing a karaoke birthday party where he will be performing his own unique brand of entertainment, complete with bedazzled outfits.

But when he arrives at the club, the party has already gone sour when the birthday girl's purse has gone missing -- and they accuse the DJ! So it's up to Gene to play amateur sleuth for once.

Can Gene figure out who really stole the purse? Will the party be saved? And will he really sing a tribute to TLC? Find out in this hilarious short cozy mystery.

Readers have loved the full novel The Murderous Haircut of the Mayor of Bel Air, saying, "I. Am. HERE FOR IT!" (Anchal at Libro Book Review) and "Five stars" (Michele at Books Cause Insomnia). Professional haircutter, amateur sleuth and secret psychic DANICA LUMAN reads the minds of her customers by touching their heads. Mostly she sees their ideal hairstyles, but one day she touches the head of a new customer and sees a dead body. For lovers of Flavia de Luce from The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, The Long Goodbye and even X-Men, too. Make your appointment to cut hair, read minds and solve a murder.

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