On Tour With Dead Writers
By Z.J. Czupor
On Tour with Dead Writers is Z.J. Czupor‘s new installment on Rogue Women Writers. Guess the correct dead writer and be entered to win a free book.
Bob Kane (1915-1998), the creator of comic-book and film character “Batman” credits his watching this 1930 film, “The Bat Whispers,” as the inspiration for “Batman.” But this film was the second of three film adaptations made from a successful Broadway and London play called “The Bat” (first produced in 1920). The play’s origins can be traced to a best-selling mystery novel first published in 1908, but with a different title. The story follows a spinster who rents a summer house and thwarts a series of strange crimes. This famous author’s first novel was inspired after she visited Melrose Castle in Northern Virginia. Her novel pioneered the “had I but known” school of mystery writing.
Who was this famous author?
The winner will be randomly chosen from those who respond to mysteryminutecontest@gmail.com with the correct answer by 12:00 p.m., ET, June 23. The prize? A book by one of our Rogue authors! This month it will be Before Evil by Alex Kava.
Good luck!
Does this dead writer have you stumped? Go Rogue and sign up for our Newsletter. Subscribers receive an additional clue, day-of notice on blogs, and tons of other treats!
Z.J. Czupor is president of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and past Vice President of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (RMMWA). In addition to writing monthly columns for Rogue Women Writers and RMMWA, he is the author of THE BIG WEIRD: Haikus in Times of Pandemic and Chaos
Joyce of Nevada had the right answer and was the lucky winner of Alex’s book! Did you guess the correct dead writer?
I have no clue – but always love reading these Mystery Minutes. Thanks for telling us these stories – they are always fascinating!
Oooh no idea, but I love the castle pic, and did not know a play kicked things off things bat love the MM’s.
Hi Jenny,
Thanks! One aspect of these stories I always find fascinating is how one novel can begat a play or movie, or several iterations thereafter.
Thanks Karna,
I always learn something new with these stories and the lives of these amazing authors.
What is our fascination with bats?
Hi Lisa,
Well…I do like baseball. But seriously, I think it has to do with folklore. Here’s an article you might find interesting, stories dating back to American Indian legends and as far back as Aesop: https://www.batcon.org/article/folklore-and-the-origin-of-bats/
One of my faves! The film and the book.
The author is Mary Roberts Rinehart , thank you for the chance.