A darkly funny novel anchored by a murder mystery, Death of a Writer explores the price of fame, the turmoil of academic life, and the precarious position of literature in American society.Once literary prodigy and now a virtual unknown, Professor E. Robert Pendleton clings hopelessly to his tenured position at a midwestern college. When a campus visit from a rival author, now superstar, tips his malaise into desperation, death seems the only remaining option. But Pendleton's suicide attempt is thwarted by a young graduate student, leaving Pendleton relegated to a wheelchair, surviving in a barely conscious state. It is then that an unpublished novel is discovered in his basement: a brilliant, semi-autobiographical story with a gruesome child murder at its core.The publication of Scream causes a storm of publicity, conferring on Pendleton the success he has always sought, when, ironically, he is no longer in a condition to appreciate it. Soon questions begin to be asked about the novel's content - in particular about the uncanny resemblance between Pendleton's fictional crime and a real-life, unresolved local murder. How did Pendleton know the case so well? And why did he bury Scream in his basement? Enter Jon Ryder, a world-weary detective, and the hunt for the murderer is on. Read Less