Obit: Barbara Seranella

Barbara Seranella, an auto mechanic-turned mystery writer, died Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio, of end-stage liver disease while awaiting a third liver transplant. She was 50 years old.
After writing her first book, "No Human Involved," which was published in 1997 and was No. 5 on the Los Angeles Times best-seller list, she gained popularity for suspense novels based on the adventures of Munch Muncini, a female auto and motorcycle mechanic/detective with a checkered past not unlike that of the author.
She went on to see seven more books in that series published. A new book, "Deadman's Switch," based on a different character, is expected to be released in April.
Born in Santa Monica, Seranella grew up in Pacific Palisades and ran away from home at age 14, joining a hippie commune in San Francisco and riding with an outlaw motorcycle gang known as the Heathens. During that time, she became all too familiar with drugs, alcohol and jail time. She was arrested 13 times for various offenses.
At age 22, she got sober and decided to settle down. She worked at an Arco station in Sherman Oaks for five years, then for a Texaco station in Brentwood, where she became service manager and married her boss, Ron Seranella, in 1994. They had homes in Laguna Beach and in La Quinta.
At the urging of her husband, she retired soon after they married to pursue writing, something she'd wanted to do since childhood.
She wrote her first book in 1995, sold it in 1996 and saw it published the following year.
In the process, she went from tough biker chick to genteel, conservative, well-dressed author, active in local writing groups, such as Sisters in Crime Orange County, and frequently was asked to speak to mystery fans and aspiring writers.
In the summer of 2005, she had two liver transplants – the second coming only three days after the first.
Last year, she learned the second liver, too, was failing.
"Barbara died at 50," said her husband, Ron, "but she wasn't really 50. She was 75 in life experience."
She is survived by her husband, Ron; parents, Nate and Margie Shore; stepdaughters, Carry Seranella, Shannon Howard; brothers, Larry and David Shore.
Services are pending.
The family asks that instead of sending flowers, friends and fans add the pink organ-donor dot to their driver's licenses in memory of Barbara Seranella.