ON TOUR WITH DEAD WRITERS: Hollywood Homicides

by | Sep 10, 2024 | Mystery Minute, The Writer's Life | 4 comments

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 Gayle LyndsThe Last Spymaster!

His first novel is the first-person account of a writer who becomes a serial killer and follows the protagonist from Minneapolis to Chicago, New York and Hollywood.

His one PI novel features a one-eyed detective trying to solve the cold case of a cowboy movie star found dead on the set of his latest picture in Hollywood. Another novel’s protagonist adopts a new identity as a psychologist and collects secrets from wealthy clients to blackmail them. Both novels are considered masterpieces of noir.

However, the novel that changed his life was about a middle-aged bachelor who runs an isolated motel with his domineering mother. It’s considered his most enduring work and one of the most influential horror novels of the 20th century.

Who was this trailblazing author?

Did you guess Ira Levin last month? Ronda in Nebraska won Borrowed Time by Tracy Clark!

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.

Z.J. Czupor's author image, writer of On Tour with Dead Writers: Breadwinning Detective Novelist

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4 Comments

  1. Jenny Milchman

    Can’t believe I missed last month’s, Ira Levin is a favorite of mine! This one I can’t guess at all. Good luck to the entrants!

  2. Rogue Women Writers

    No clue – your blogs are always SO intriguing though!

  3. Pamela Meyer

    Hmm… A one-eyed PI. I got nothing, but it sure sounds intriguing. Thank, ZJ. I subscribed, so I figure I’ll know the answer soon ( ;

  4. Margaret Mizushima

    How about Robert Bloch. Love your stories and your Mystery Minutes too, Z J! And love those Rogue Women Writers!