Behind the Gates: How My Hollywood Past Inspired a 1990s Romantic Suspense 9/5/2026 3:11:30 PM
I used to live near Beverly Hills, though not inside that prestigious 90210 ZIP code. Back then, my life revolved around my life revolved around writing, researching and ice skating. I worked office jobs inside the high-rises off Wilshire Boulevard. I caught bargain matinees at the historic Fine Arts Theatre. And I spent hours inside the Beverly Hills Public Library. I used to live near Beverly Hills, though not inside that prestigious 90210 ZIP code. Back then, my life revolved around my life revolved around writing, researching and ice skating. I worked office jobs inside the high-rises off Wilshire Boulevard. I caught bargain matinees at the historic Fine Arts Theatre. And I spent hours inside the Beverly Hills Public Library.
That library held a lot of importance to me. It was even the location of an official meeting I had with a 20th Century Fox executive to discuss writing a television series for them.
When I recently uncovered my old Beverly Hills library card, it brought back a flood of memories—including the exact moment I began writing the first draft of a story called North of Sunset.
Years later, that manuscript has completely transformed into Behind the Gates: A Beverly Hills Secrets Novel (Book 1).
I decided to rewrite the book from the ground up to fundamentally improve the ending, deepen the secrets, and sharpen the characters. The story explores a stark contrast: worldliness versus virtue, and the cutthroat machine of Hollywood versus a normal outsider. At its heart are Sherman Lee, a volatile, successful action movie producer, and Emily Karelin, his focused new assistant.
Emily takes the job purely to fund her expensive figure skating obsession. She has no showbiz ambition, leaving her completely unprepared for the dangerous web of control and manipulation awaiting her. Sherman is a multi-millionaire used to dictating reality. He despises the “system,” gripes about taxes, and laughs off city rules—even stating that “seatbelts are for pussies.”
To capture the true essence of 1996, I chose to completely unplug while rewriting this series. Avoiding the online world, I wrote notes by hand in spiral-bound notebooks, listened to period-accurate music, and watched films made back when the Internet was still in its infancy. The result is an authentic, atmospheric time capsule of a long-gone Los Angeles.
