Deathbed Dime$, published by Iguana Books, had its debut launch on May 30, and has stirred a flurry of activity in literary circles. It has been described as sassy, energetic, edgy, witty, and hilarious.
Naomi Zener is a new author, but far from a new writer. She writes satire and fiction on her blog Satirical Mama which has been read and praised by industry bigwigs including Giller Prize-winner Vincent Lam and New York Times best-selling author and journalist Paula Froelich.
The mother of a baby and toddler, Zener contributes tongue-in-cheek articles on parenting to Erica Ehm’s online yummymummyclub and to the Huffington Post. She is also a practising entertainment lawyer.
“You always start with what you know, build upon that as a base and go from there. Let your mind take you where it’s going to take you,” Zener said.
With that mind set, she initially con-ceived an idea for a TV series in the early 2000s.
“I studied and really loved estate litigation and estate law in law school. I found that area to be fascinating, and was surprised that there was never any kind of TV show about this area of law. It coincided with my move to work in entertainment law. I put a cast of characters together in my head and wrote what I hoped at that time was a TV series,” Zener said.
Fast forward to 2008 when she watched the film The Bucket List. “It was then that I decided to write my own bucket list and number one on my list was to write a novel,” she said. “The best idea I had was to take this old TV idea off the shelf, flush it out and – voilà! That became Deathbed Dime$.”
The book exposes the reality that if one can outlive one’s relatives, friends and sometimes even strangers, one’s odds of hitting the inheritance jackpot are better than playing the lottery.
The story’s protagonist, Joely Zeller, is a Jewish 32-year-old who is a beautiful and ambitious lawyer. For more than eight years, she endures 90-hour work weeks and sacrifices her love life (jilted by her fiancé for his best man).
Her nemesis, Chip Hancock, foils her partnership by gaining advantages over her at every opportunity because he is a good old boy, whom the WASPy partners at his firm favour.
There is an underlying sub-theme of anti-Semitism and how it exists in the workplace.
A serendipitous encounter with a former professor reminds Joely that with the impending inevitable demise of aging boomers, an unprecedented wealth transfer would take place, making Joely realize that with her experience and Hollywood connections, she could start fresh with her own law firm back in Los Angeles.
With her two best friends and former law classmates as her partners in her new L.A. firm, Joely sets out to help the recently disowned and penniless sharpen their claws as they stake their claim to the fortunes of their dearly departed.
“We live in tough economic times, people are relying on the hopefulness that they will inherit some money,” Zener said. “Truth is stranger than fiction: people come out of the woodwork and lay claim to inheritances that they had no right to, some taking advantage of the elderly before they died and trying to bend people’s last will and testament.
“This inspired me to create a story about that area because we are going to see a lot more in the way of estate battles as members of the baby boomer generation die.
“I conjured the title from my mind’s image of crocodile-tearing relatives trying to shake loose their dying relatives’ last few dimes, as they lay on their deathbeds,” she added.
“If Helen Fielding and John Grisham collaborated on a book, you would get mine. It mixes satire, legal thriller and up-market female fiction into one, entertaining read,” Zener said.
Deathbead Dime$ is published by Iguana Books. www.satiricalmama.blogspot.com. www.naomielanazener.com
