Chatter: Ad City

The book Murder at the Mikvah has been on so many Philly billboards  lately — hovering over Interstate 95, Admiral Wilson Boulevard, the Schuylkill — that the bad-tastic Snickers signs are getting jealous. How is a self-published first novel by Lower Merion mom Denise Steen getting such colossal exposure? Chalk it up to her proud dad ... who owns the billboard company. Terry Steen, South Jersey philanthropist and boss of Steen Outdoor Advertising, had some spare space, and his daughter (pen name: Sarah Segal) had a hot new Jew-dunit to sell. (A mikvah is a pool of water used in Jewish rituals.) The billboards are getting attention. Advertising may be hurting elsewhere, but “People still drive to work,” Steen says, plugging Dad’s business. “You drive and you look around.”