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The Body in the Back Seat
An irreverent, tricky whodunit by Dick Lochte, the award-winning, Los Angeles Times bestselling author whose work Publisher’s Weekly says "outclasses, in many ways, the tales of Raymond Chandler, Ross Macdonald and other renowned California mystery writers." It’s the Swinging Sixties and Harry Trauble is ready for some California Dreamin’. He’s young, single, living at a cool beach-side pad and working in Hollywood at Ogle, the nation's second most popular magazine for men. So what if the Vietnam Conflict is heating up and Watts is a racial powder key about to blow? At Ogle, with its beautiful people, amusing eccentrics and sexual freedom, it's nothing but fun and games. Unless you're worried about a company executive being crushed by agiant statue of the magazine' s jaunty frog logo . . . or the strangled corpse left in the back seat of Harry’s car . . . or the dark and sinister plan that's placed the employees of Ogle on the hit list of a very efficient assassin. This book was previously published under the title Croaked!PRAISE FOR THE BODY IN THE BACK SEAT “A splashy, sexy, swingin’ adventure. Lochte delivers plenty of surprises and a lot of laughs along the way.” Booklist “A giddy romp.” Kirkus Reviews “Tongue-in-cheek, the 6Os social satire rolls out in a smooth, droll fashion that would make the late, great Richard S. Prather proud.” Mystery Scene “Memorable, quirky characters that are fun and entertaining.” CrimeSpree Magazine
327 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 6, 2021
6 people are currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Dick Lochte
55 books27 followersDick Lochte, author of the noir thriller Blues in the Night and co-author with The Today Show's Al Roker of the comedy mysteries featuring restaurateur Billy Blessing (The Talk Show Murders), began his career as a novelist with the publication of the award-winning mystery, Sleeping Dog.
As a journalist, Lochte has written for numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Playboy, TV Guide, Chicago Tribune and Salon. He has been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times for a number of years, most recently as a reviewer of crime fiction. He has also served as a contributing editor and theatre critic for Los Angeles magazine, receiving an Ovation Award from the Los Angeles Theatre Alliance, the only critic so honoured.
He has also written film scripts for such actors as David Niven, Roger Moore, Martin Sheen and Jodie Foster.
Lochte, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, now lives with his wife and son in Southern California.
As a journalist, Lochte has written for numerous publications, including the Washington Post, Playboy, TV Guide, Chicago Tribune and Salon. He has been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times for a number of years, most recently as a reviewer of crime fiction. He has also served as a contributing editor and theatre critic for Los Angeles magazine, receiving an Ovation Award from the Los Angeles Theatre Alliance, the only critic so honoured.
He has also written film scripts for such actors as David Niven, Roger Moore, Martin Sheen and Jodie Foster.
Lochte, a native of New Orleans, Louisiana, now lives with his wife and son in Southern California.
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June 6, 2021From Dick:
The mention of Algis Budrys took me back several decades when we were both in the employ of Playboy in Chicago, he as the editor of Playboy Press and I as a promotion copywriter. During lunch one day, I mentioned I'd started a comic novel about a copywriter who worked for a magazine like Playboy. A.J. was amused and offered to look at it, not for Playboy Press of course. Being a kind and generous man, he did quite a bit more, reading every chapter as soon as I wrote them, suggesting edits and changes. I’d written about half the book when he moved on (to teach at a writers’ colony, I think) and, for an assortment of reasons, I put the pages aside. Eventually, after writing several crime novels, I dusted the pages off, added a few murders. That resulted in the comedy mystery CROAKED! which has just arrived in its first trade paper and eBook editions under a new title THE BODY IN THE BACK SEAT.
The mention of Algis Budrys took me back several decades when we were both in the employ of Playboy in Chicago, he as the editor of Playboy Press and I as a promotion copywriter. During lunch one day, I mentioned I'd started a comic novel about a copywriter who worked for a magazine like Playboy. A.J. was amused and offered to look at it, not for Playboy Press of course. Being a kind and generous man, he did quite a bit more, reading every chapter as soon as I wrote them, suggesting edits and changes. I’d written about half the book when he moved on (to teach at a writers’ colony, I think) and, for an assortment of reasons, I put the pages aside. Eventually, after writing several crime novels, I dusted the pages off, added a few murders. That resulted in the comedy mystery CROAKED! which has just arrived in its first trade paper and eBook editions under a new title THE BODY IN THE BACK SEAT.
Displaying 1 of 1 review