By ZJ Czupor
ZJ Czupor‘s On Tour with Dead Writers brings us clues to a mystery author each second Tuesday of the month. Dust off your investigative skills and send your answer to mysteryminutecontest@gmail.com by the 20th of the month. From the correct responses, one will be randomly drawn to win a copy of Masquerade by Gayle Lynds!
This mystery writer was born in New York City. As a teenager, she began writing short prose and poetry. After college she worked as a tutor and produced amateur theater, an interest born most likely to her uncle being recognized as an influential theatrical writer and producer in the late 19th century. As a child, she had great interest in games and puzzles and was an avid reader of detective fiction, especially the works of Wilkie Collins (1824-1889). When she reached her thirties, she wrote her first detective story, but it was not until she turned 62 that her first novel was published.
Her main character appeared in sixteen novels as a different sort of detective. He was bookish, had a wife, two cats, and made a living as a rare books and handwriting expert with a side interest in criminology. He also authored books on crime. Without relying on guns or brute force, her detective dealt with affairs of forgery, theft, and murder, and her plots often weaved in literary references like the poetry of Byron, Shakespeare’s plays, or a Chaucer manuscript.
Who was this famous author?
Did you guess Dorothy L. Sayers last month? Ellen in New Jersey won The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado!
Subscribe to our Newsletter to receive an extra clue at the beginning of each month as well as automatic entry to several more monthly Giveaways and first looks at weekly blogs!
Contest rules:
1. All US addresses are eligible to win.
2. Each month’s prize will be a book written by one of the Rogues and donated by that author.
3. All subscribers who email us with the correct answer before the 20th will be entered in a drawing to win.
Z.J. Czupor’s new murder mystery, When The Fog Rises, is published at zjames.substack.com. He’s also the author of the thriller Cut Right Through Me (also at Substack) and a book of poetry THE BIG WEIRD: Haikus in Times of Pandemic and Chaos. Z.J. is immediate past president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. He is represented by Terrie Wolf, founder and owner of AKA Literary Management.
As usual, I have no clue about this mystery writer– however for those who enter – I have read Gayle Lynds terrific thriller “Masquerade” — you will love it!