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By Blood Written: A Dark Psychological Thriller About Murder, Obsession, and Literary Ambition
At first, it was only research . . . Author Michael Schiftmann has received resounding critical acclaim for his novels that few people buy or read. The sad truth is that readers aren't interested in great literature—they only want glitz and violence. So that's what Michael intends to give them—shocking stories of a blood-chillingly efficient serial killer that are filled with gore and horror. And to ensure that his books are impeccably realistic in every aspect, he plans to try his own hand . . . at murder. Soon his fictional killer is a sensation, and Michael is a rich, sought-after celebrity—and his beautiful, rising-star literary agent, Taylor Robinson, is falling in love with him. But there is one serious Michael Schiftmann has discovered that bloodletting feels good . . . and he can't seem to stop.
402 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
4 people are currently reading
69 people want to read
About the author
Steven Womack
33 books43 followersWith the publication of his novel, FADE UP FROM BLACK: THE RETURN OF HARRY JAMES DENTON, Steven Womack brings back his award-winning MUSIC CITY MURDERS series, featuring P.I. Harry James Denton
Womack began his first novel when he was eighteen-years-old. A short eighteen years later, he finally sold one. His first published novel, MURPHY'S FAULT, was the only debut mystery on the 1990 New York Times Notable Book List. Since then, he has published ten more novels, winning both the Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as receiving multiple nominations for major mystery awards.
His Edgar and Shamus Award-winning Harry James Denton MUSIC CITY MURDERS series--DEAD FOLKS' BLUES, TORCH TOWN BOOGIE, WAY PAST DEAD, NOBODY'S CHAIN LAYS STRAIGHT, A MANUAL OF MURDER and DIRTY MONEY--has been republished by Spearhead Press.
A scriptwriter as well, Womack co-wrote the screenplays for PROUDHEART, which was nominated for the CableAce Award, and VOLCANO: FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN, an ABC television movie that was one of the most-watched television movies of the year.
Womack lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where for twenty-five years he anchored the screenwriting program at the Watkins Film School of Watkins College of Art. He also served five years as Chair of The Film School. When the college closed in May, 2020, he was the longest serving faculty member at the college.
A licensed pilot, Womack loves to fly and scuba dive in his spare time. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any spare time since 2001.
Visit his website at www.stevenwomack.com
Womack began his first novel when he was eighteen-years-old. A short eighteen years later, he finally sold one. His first published novel, MURPHY'S FAULT, was the only debut mystery on the 1990 New York Times Notable Book List. Since then, he has published ten more novels, winning both the Edgar and Shamus Awards, as well as receiving multiple nominations for major mystery awards.
His Edgar and Shamus Award-winning Harry James Denton MUSIC CITY MURDERS series--DEAD FOLKS' BLUES, TORCH TOWN BOOGIE, WAY PAST DEAD, NOBODY'S CHAIN LAYS STRAIGHT, A MANUAL OF MURDER and DIRTY MONEY--has been republished by Spearhead Press.
A scriptwriter as well, Womack co-wrote the screenplays for PROUDHEART, which was nominated for the CableAce Award, and VOLCANO: FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN, an ABC television movie that was one of the most-watched television movies of the year.
Womack lives in Nashville, Tennessee, where for twenty-five years he anchored the screenwriting program at the Watkins Film School of Watkins College of Art. He also served five years as Chair of The Film School. When the college closed in May, 2020, he was the longest serving faculty member at the college.
A licensed pilot, Womack loves to fly and scuba dive in his spare time. Unfortunately, there hasn't been any spare time since 2001.
Visit his website at www.stevenwomack.com
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 21, 2025
I love the TV series (in all it's iterations) of Dexter so I thought I would like this book as much. It's the story of a writer named Michael Schiftmann who has finally hit it big with a series of crime fiction - until one savy old lady notices the similarities between his books and the crimes of a serial killer dubbed "The Alphabet Man".
What bothered me about this book was not the gruesome crime scenes but the lack of a red herring. Usually when I read any kind of crime fiction, there are several red herrings that focus my suspicions on the wrong characters, making the ending a bit of a surprise. In this story, it is established early on that Michael is the murderer. The synopsis on the back cover says as much. But never did we see anything that convinced me that Michael was a serial killer.
There is the one incident where he feels threatened by someone and disposes of them - but that seems different than the methodical hunting, raping and killing of women across the country. Other than the circumstantial evidence, which even the police believed was flimsy at best, there was nothing that pointed to Michael. Yet he was put on trial. So I kept waiting for a huge plot twist. I thought maybe it would be revealed that it was really one of the investigators, or someone else was also writing novels but they were sitting in an agent's slush pile undiscovered.
There were a couple of small twists at the end, but even that tangent was predictable and confirmed via foreshadowing.
In the beginning I also had a hard time with the androgynous names like Taylor and Brett (both females).
What bothered me about this book was not the gruesome crime scenes but the lack of a red herring. Usually when I read any kind of crime fiction, there are several red herrings that focus my suspicions on the wrong characters, making the ending a bit of a surprise. In this story, it is established early on that Michael is the murderer. The synopsis on the back cover says as much. But never did we see anything that convinced me that Michael was a serial killer.
There is the one incident where he feels threatened by someone and disposes of them - but that seems different than the methodical hunting, raping and killing of women across the country. Other than the circumstantial evidence, which even the police believed was flimsy at best, there was nothing that pointed to Michael. Yet he was put on trial. So I kept waiting for a huge plot twist. I thought maybe it would be revealed that it was really one of the investigators, or someone else was also writing novels but they were sitting in an agent's slush pile undiscovered.
There were a couple of small twists at the end, but even that tangent was predictable and confirmed via foreshadowing.
In the beginning I also had a hard time with the androgynous names like Taylor and Brett (both females).
April 24, 2020
This was a decent read, a struggling author who'd been unable to get anywhere suddenly starts climbing the ladder of success when he begins writing a novel series about a serial killer. Only problem is there's an actual serial killer on the loose who has evaded police committing remarkably similar crimes, something an avid reader notes after seeing a newspaper article on yet another crime. Only now the avid reader has just attending a book signing in that very same town with the author and realises they aren't just remarkable similar, they're the same with details slightly adjusted.
Ensuing is some procedural law enforcement and legal wrangled as a case against the author is formed and brought to the courts.
I quite enjoyed it and thought the idea of a crime writer being the actual criminal was an interesting topic to write about. I didn't so much like that some characters just passed through the story forming up the plot not to be heard from again, that being said it didn't detract all that much from the main thrust of the story and overall the writing and story was pleasurable to read.
Ensuing is some procedural law enforcement and legal wrangled as a case against the author is formed and brought to the courts.
I quite enjoyed it and thought the idea of a crime writer being the actual criminal was an interesting topic to write about. I didn't so much like that some characters just passed through the story forming up the plot not to be heard from again, that being said it didn't detract all that much from the main thrust of the story and overall the writing and story was pleasurable to read.
August 23, 2024
That was fricken awful.
It was set in the early aughts but jeesh,forensics were far better then than depicted. The inside of the gloves for example.
If some dude who is staying at my house, attending a party in his honour there, takes a woman into the guest room to f*!!, and then asks me for clean sheets, then there is NO WAY I'm gonna fall in love with him very shortly after, get engaged almost right away (love bombing, anyone?) and then stick by him for most of the time prior to a murder conviction.
And I'd like to know where they found sandy beaches on Bonaire.
This was just a terrible book on sooooo many levels.
It was set in the early aughts but jeesh,forensics were far better then than depicted. The inside of the gloves for example.
If some dude who is staying at my house, attending a party in his honour there, takes a woman into the guest room to f*!!, and then asks me for clean sheets, then there is NO WAY I'm gonna fall in love with him very shortly after, get engaged almost right away (love bombing, anyone?) and then stick by him for most of the time prior to a murder conviction.
And I'd like to know where they found sandy beaches on Bonaire.
This was just a terrible book on sooooo many levels.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 30, 2022
Could have been a 5
This is the 7th or 8th Womack book I've read. Obviously I liked them. Blood could have been a 5 but it was too long and dragged. The procedural and crime details that make the books great, in my opinion, were too detailed. Or maybe without the punch - to the point of boring.
I do recommend "Blood" and especially the series. I'm already looking for my next Womack read.
This is the 7th or 8th Womack book I've read. Obviously I liked them. Blood could have been a 5 but it was too long and dragged. The procedural and crime details that make the books great, in my opinion, were too detailed. Or maybe without the punch - to the point of boring.
I do recommend "Blood" and especially the series. I'm already looking for my next Womack read.
November 27, 2020
Tip: Disregard the epilogue. It turned a crime thriller into a crappy chick lit slop. Not everything needs to have a corny happy ending. 2.5 stars due to a poorly written final 10 pages and due to the fact that Carol's storyline was forgotten about.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 14, 2024
Finished it just to finish it while on a plane. Gets rather boring and dredges on in the second half.
March 2, 2025
What an amazing twist. Loved it, and the insider information on the publishing industry. Highly recommended.
August 11, 2013
This was an impulse purchase for me; I hadn't heard of Womack prior to reading this, but now that I've finished this one I'd certainly be interested in reading some of his other work. Normally I would probably have given this four stars, though given that my average rating is hovering right around there I've decided to try to be a bit more discerning/less generous with my ratings. We'll see if it lasts.
And there were a few things I found a bit annoying, although as I said I very much enjoyed the read overall.
First off, I found the description on the back cover rather misleading. I don't want to provide any spoilers, so let me just say that I thought the story would begin in a different place/time than it did, and that the story's focus would be on somewhat different aspects, at least at the beginning, than it was.
Secondly, there was one nagging plot hole that I just couldn't stop thinking about. Again, I can't go into it in much detail without risking spoilers. Suffice it to say it was nagging enough to detract just a bit from my enjoyment of the book. If anyone, for some strange reason, is really curious about just what it was, feel free to message me.
Finally, it seemed to me there were a few more typos in this one than I usually find, though that could just be me. They're not glaring or so numerous that it takes away from the book, but for some reason I feel like mentioning it. It could be, of course, that I'm just, for some reason or another, more sensitive to them than I used to be.
Anyway, I very much enjoyed this book despite the above-mentioned issues, and I don't want the fact that I focused primarily on the negatives with this one to give a false impression that this book isn't as good as I actually found it to be. And like I said, I would certainly be amenable to reading more by this author if I happened to come across any of it.
And there were a few things I found a bit annoying, although as I said I very much enjoyed the read overall.
First off, I found the description on the back cover rather misleading. I don't want to provide any spoilers, so let me just say that I thought the story would begin in a different place/time than it did, and that the story's focus would be on somewhat different aspects, at least at the beginning, than it was.
Secondly, there was one nagging plot hole that I just couldn't stop thinking about. Again, I can't go into it in much detail without risking spoilers. Suffice it to say it was nagging enough to detract just a bit from my enjoyment of the book. If anyone, for some strange reason, is really curious about just what it was, feel free to message me.
Finally, it seemed to me there were a few more typos in this one than I usually find, though that could just be me. They're not glaring or so numerous that it takes away from the book, but for some reason I feel like mentioning it. It could be, of course, that I'm just, for some reason or another, more sensitive to them than I used to be.
Anyway, I very much enjoyed this book despite the above-mentioned issues, and I don't want the fact that I focused primarily on the negatives with this one to give a false impression that this book isn't as good as I actually found it to be. And like I said, I would certainly be amenable to reading more by this author if I happened to come across any of it.
September 18, 2011
A good writer never makes any money, so he starts researching his novels better...by becoming a serial killer. Then, he's catapulted to fame. The book alternates between telling the story of the author's agent, as she falls in love with him, and telling the story of the detectives who are trying to solve the murders. i liked the dichotomy between those two worlds. the second part of the book is the trial, which was boring, then the third part was interesting again. i wasn't expecting much, but this book got me drawn in. go read it!
July 24, 2008
Another good read about someone setting out to kill out for justice and revenge but motives and intent change. Forgettable in six months.
January 30, 2008
An interesting read that starts off as a great crime thriller, then a little over half way thru seems to get bogged down in court room drama. Good, but not great.
July 14, 2008
I really like Steve Womack so I wanted to love this book. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. I did love the fact that women were the saviors.
September 2, 2008
I enjoyed that this was set in Nashville, written by a local and had landmarks and places I recognized.
September 16, 2011
Wow - pretty graphic to begin with, but then I really got into the relationships and the hunt for the serial killer. Great book!
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews