THE CROOKED PICTURE



HAD HE BEEN BORN a few decades earlier, John Thomas Lutz (1939–) would have been a star in the pulp world. With more than forty novels and two hundred short stories to his credit, he has demonstrated both the ingenuity and work ethic of those early writers who turned out readable, entertaining prose year after year. Born in Dallas, Texas, Lutz moved to St. Louis when young and has lived there ever since. Before becoming a full-time writer in 1975, he had jobs as a construction worker, theater usher, warehouse worker, truck driver, and switchboard operator for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. His writing career is as varied as his background, producing private eye stories, political suspense, humor, occult stories, psychological suspense, tales of espionage, historical works, futuristic writings, police procedurals, and urban suspense fiction. His first series character, Alo Nudger, who made his debut in Buyer Beware (1976), may be the least likely private eye in the mystery genre. He is so compassionate that he is downright meek, a borderline coward who is an out-and-out loser paralyzed by overdue bills, clients who refuse to pay him, and a blood-sucking former wife. A more traditional character is the Florida-based P.I. Fred Carver, a former cop forced off the job after a Latino street punk kneecaps him; his first appearance was in Tropical Heat (1986). Lutz’s most commercially successful book is probably SWF Seeks Same (1990), a suspense thriller that served as the basis for the 1992 movie Single White Female starring Bridget Fonda and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Lutz has served as the president of the Mystery Writers of America and has been nominated for four Edgar Awards, winning in 1986 for best short story for “Ride the Lightning.”

“The Crooked Picture” was first published in the November 1967 issue of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Magazine.