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 A Different Dawn by Isabella Maldonado!
As an adult, and before he started writing, this famous author made several bad investments and declared bankruptcy. He became an attorney but never practiced. And with no prospects for work he turned to writing to generate income.
He successfully published several books of history and a western series and began to attract a following. At one point, the English novelist Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)—the author of Frankenstein (1818)—was romantically interested in him, but he did not pursue her.
Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) sought out his comments on some of his stories. He also exchanged letters with Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and hosted Dickens and his wife at his home.
In addition to his two most famous works, this author produced twenty short stories, three novellas, five non-fiction books, and thirteen collections of stories, along with essays, poems, travel books, histories, and biographies of George Washington (1732-1799), and Christopher Columbus (1451-1506).
Who was this famous author?
Did you guess Robert Bloch last month? Elizabeth in California won The Last Spymaster by Gayle Lynds!
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.
He turned down Mary Shelley?? More fool him.
As usual, I have no clue but I certainly enjoy learning about these clever scribes!