by Z.J. 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 The Assassins by Gayle Lynds!

Photo courtesy: Southern Pacific, circa 1930
This famous author only wrote five novels, but it was his final novel that spawned six movie adaptations. He wrote treatments, narrative summaries of plots for the second and third films, but not the screenplays. The second film takes place in 1936 and begins with the detective couple returning from New York by train to their home in San Francisco hoping for a quiet New Year’s Eve when murder interrupts their plans.
In addition to the six films, there was a long-running radio show, and a 1950s TV series, all spinoffs from his original novel. This author’s total earnings from the novel and its characters between 1933 and 1950 approached a million dollars.
Who was this famous author?
Did you guess Roderick Thorpe last month? Paula in Colorado won Trace Evidence by Lisa Black!
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.

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