Final Draft

Story 9 in the “Tales of Suspense” Series

When a fledgling and failing novelist comes up with the idea of a lifetime—a murder mystery—he brings in a stenographer to type it up as he feverishly dictates the story. Up against an unyielding deadline, the writer tells his tale while struggling with his disinterested typist in a battle of wills. The author’s novel—embedded into Final Draft—is the story of a hardboiled crime reporter who figures out a plot to seduce and marry a dying heiress in order to gain her fortune. His plan, however, is beset with challenges and he finds himself in an ever darker, ever deepening maze of intrigue...something the author suddenly seems unable to escape himself as the writer’s fiction merges with his own life.

©2022 Jerry Jamison (P)2023 Jerry Jamison