We are delighted to welcome author Peter S. Fischer to Omnimystery News today.
Peter's latest book in his Hollywood Murder Mysteries series is Some Like 'Em Dead (April 2016 trade paperback and ebook formats) and we recently had the opportunity to spend some time with him talking about it.
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Omnimystery News: Tell us a little more about your Hollywood Murder Mystery series.
Photo provided courtesy of
Peter S. Fischer
Peter S. Fischer: My latest and only venture is The Hollywood Murder Mysteries and my protagonist is named Joe Bernardi. He is a studio flak, a feather merchant, a press and publicity guy whose job it is to beat the drum for the studio's product, play up the virtues of its stars and hide the awful truth when it rears its ugly head.
When I decided to embark on this series I was determined that my hero would not be a cop, private eye, or a lawyer but something different and since my milieu was Hollywood, a publicity guy seemed a good choice. The series works like this, starting in 1947 when Joe has just returned from Europe at the end of WWII having served on Stars and Stripes, the military newspaper. He gets a job at a poverty row studio which is filming a movie called Jezebel in Blue Satin. Murder ensues, complications abound, suspects proliferate and in the end Joe unmasks the killer and justice is done. Since the killer was the head of the studio, Joe next goes to work for Warner Brothers.
The year is 1948. His first week on the job he is sent to Tampico, Mexico, to get Humphrey Bogart out of jail. It is easily done and filming resumes on The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. But then a little known actor is murdered and production is tossed into a tailspin and Joe gets involved in straightening things out. Bogart is a character in the book as is director John Huston, his father Walter, cowboy star Tim Holt, pinup girl Ann Sheridan and B. Traven, the shadowy author of the book that is the basis of the film.
Soon it's 1949. Joe's ex-wife Lydia is unjustly accused of murder and Joe pitches in to clear her even though he is busy flakking for Jimmy Cagney's new gangster film, White Heat. In 1950 the film is The Glass Menagerie and more murder. 1951 is told against the background of A Streetcar Named Desire and among other things deals with Elia Kazan's troubles with the House Unamerican Activities Committee. And so it goes.
Another year, another movie, another murder with the movie serving as the major backdrop for the story. What intrigues me about this? The ability to transport my hero (a surrogate for me) back to the golden days of old Hollywood and to revisit classic movies and bring to life old and beloved stars in a new and different way. I have just finished a first draft on Book 21 which centers around Bonnie and Clyde and along the way I have touched dozens of major stars from Brando to John Wayne to Ronald Reagan as well as Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson and Elizabeth Taylor. Suffice to say, I'm not through yet.
OMN: Some Like 'Em Dead is the thirteenth book in this series. How has Joe developed since he was first introduced?
PSF: I would be a poor writer indeed if my protagonist went through 21 years without evolving. At first a guy scrabbling to make a living, then gaining a reputation as a top man in his field, his resignation from Warners to go into partnership with a leading talent manager, a firm which quickly rises to the top of the ladder making Joe a millionaire. His first novel, well reviewed but hardly noticed and then, goaded by Truman Capote and Harper Lee, tries again with greater success. His screenplay based on his initial novel earns him an Academy nomination and then finally bored with the repetition of publicity work, he quits to become a full time novelist. During this time he is divorced, then meets and subsequently loses the love of his life and spends nearly eight years trying to find her, dallying now and then with various women, one of whom gives birth to his baby daughter, access to whom is mainly prohibited. And so it goes with his personal and professional life taking unexpected twists and turns as he ages from 27 to 48, older, somewhat wiser, but always up to any challenge that life may throw at him. (FYI: Over the course of the 21 books about a dozen characters appear and re-appear from time to time giving him a family of familiar people to play off of.)
OMN: Into what genre would you place the books of this series?
PSF: I would describe my books as mystery-nostalgia and my readers seem to agree with me. My mysteries are well thought out, some more difficult to solve than others but it is the inclusion of the old films and their stars that make my series a unique reading experience.
OMN: When starting a new book, how do you decide which classic film to feature?
PSF: Let's assume the year is 1963. I check the web to find out what movies were released that year. Then I pick the one that I think will provide me with the most interesting backdrop for a novel. Sometimes it will be a studio shoot like To Kill a Mockingbird which was shot entirely on the Universal backlot. This means a lot of my recurring regulars will be utilized. It may be a total location shoot like Giant (Texas) or Flight of the Phoenix (Arizona). Sometimes the cast will be too provocative to ignore. If I can I also select a film that has a decent amount of information about the actual filming i.e. where and when and trivia notes if any. Even though I am writing fiction I try to keep the actual filming as true as possible. Given the ambience I try to come up with a plausible mystery to go with the location and the people involved. With a few exceptions, I never have a famous star or director portrayed as a suspect and if I do, they are dismissed from consideration early on. I try to make my fictional characters as off beat and interesting as possible but also believable within the context of the plot.
OMN: How much of your own professional experience have you included in your books?
PSF: Save one, none of my books targets any individuals disguised by fictitious names but having spent nearly three decades in "the business" I met a lot of people and heard a lot of a stories so many of my supporting characters were inspired by people I came across but no one specifically. Murder Aboard the Highland Rose was inspired by the Thomas Ince affair but I reference it early on and my fictional killing aboard the yacht featured Joseph Kennedy and Gloria Swanson among others as opposed to Hearst, Marion Davies and Chaplin. As far as experience goes, I am able to write with certainty about what goes on during a movie shoot and all the technical stuff (as well as the after hours socializing on location) passes muster.
OMN: How true are you to the settings of the stories?
PSF: Mostly my books are set in Los Angeles and span the years from 1947 to 1968 so I do a great deal of research about the state of the city at any given time. Which restaurants were open and popular, which airports and airlines were operating and out of where? What devices had been invented by then such as a phone answering system or a fax machine and what hospitals were up and running and what police districts handled what areas. And keep in mind that these elements changed from book to book. For example the LAPD was run from the Police Administration Building early on and didn't become Parker Center until somewhere around Book 5. I'm pretty confident I got it mostly right. At least I have yet to hear a complaint.
OMN: The book covers for this series are really quite remarkable. How involved were you in creating them?
PSF: Kudos to Kathy Campbell who works for Gorham Printing of Centralia, Washington, which prints each of my books. Kathy is a wizard. I gave her one note early on, that I wanted the covers to a have a "film noir" feeling. At first I tried to nudge her in certain directions but I was wasting my time. She would apologize for not following my suggestions but thought she had come up with something better. And she had. Every time. Now I give her 100 words about the main content of the text and she does her own thing. Well. Very well.
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Peter S. Fischer is a prolific writer producer with over 25 years of experience in network television. Among his many credits is Murder, She Wrote, which he co-created with the well-known television team of Richard Levinson and William Link. He also served as Executive Producer for the first seven years and contributed over 50 scripts. As producer he was the winner of two Golden Globes from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for Best Television Drama and also received an Edgar from the Mystery Writers of America. A graduate of The Johns Hopkins University, he is the father of three, grandfather of six and currently lives with his wife Lucille in the Monterey Bay area of Central California.
For more information about the author, please visit his author page on Goodreads.
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Some Like 'Em Dead by Peter S. Fischer
The Hollywood Murder Mysteries
Publisher: Peter S. Fischer
After thirteen years, the great chase is over and Joe Bernardi is marrying Bunny Lesher. After a brief weekend honeymoon, it'll be back to work for them both; Bunny at the Valley News where she has just been named Assistant Editor and Joe publicizing Billy Wilder's new movie, Some Like It Hot about two musicians hiding out from the mob in an all-girl band. It boasts a great script and a stellar cast that includes Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Marilyn Monroe, so what could go wrong?
— Some Like 'Em Dead by Peter S. Fischer. Click here to take a Look Inside the book.
