A Flawed Obsessive

Aug 31

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Keith Edward Vaughn Author Interview

Bad Actor follows a washed-up TV writer turned private investigator who is investigating the death of a high-profile agent while struggling with his own personal issues. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?

As always, I set out to place my work in the lineage of L.A. noir—from James M. Cain to Joseph Schneider; Sunset Boulevard to Mulholland Drive—with its damaged characters on the razor’s edge of glamor and desperation. While I was outlining the book, I saw something on TV about the Beltway Sniper, and it changed the direction of what I was writing. That was when Bad Actor took shape.

What was the inspiration for Ellis Dunaway’s character traits and dialogue?

Like most–if not all–detectives in hardboiled crime fiction, Ellis Dunaway is a flawed obsessive. His voice reveals his unique sentimentality and sense of the absurd, filtered through Gen-X media literacy (reruns) and lots of weed.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

All the characters struggle with problems resulting from a combination of family dysfunction, identity crisis, and malignant ambition.

Can you tell us more about what’s in store for Ellis Dunaway and the direction of the next book?

The log line is Terms of Endearment meets I Wake Up Screaming, plus weed.

Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Amazon

It’s Christmastime in L.A., and private investigator Ellis Dunaway is California sober and hoping his days as a gumshoe are almost done. He’s been given a chance to reclaim his once and future dream job as a television writer by scripting a woke Miami Vice reboot for cancelled actor Urs Schreiber. The show could mean a comeback for both of them, until Urs’s agent, the notorious chauvinist Larry Price, is killed. It seems to be the work of the Southland Sniper, who’s been terrorizing the city, picking off random targets. But when suspicion shifts to Urs, he hires Ellis to clear his name. To save the show and keep his new life on track, Ellis has to face his demons—inner and folkloric—as he chases from strip malls to porn shoots to occult museums to new age therapy sessions and beyond. The actors, influencers, gurus, and wannabes he meets along the way all have their own agendas, and getting to the bottom of Larry Price’s murder isn’t one of them. And Ellis better act fast because he’s losing his apartment, dating a neurotic, and dodging a hit man’s bullets. On the upside, Stevie Nicks can’t stay out of his lap.


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