by Daniel D. Victor (Author)
A STUDY IN SYNCHRONICITY weaves an English murder mystery set in 1906 into the framework of a modern-day whodunit. The contemporary plot begins when American writer Todd Stringer wins a writing contest for his short story set in turn-of-the century London. Not only does the story feature the Sherlock Holmes-like detective Corliss Simms, but it also echoes the language of Simms's celebrated but long-dead creator, the Conan Doyle-like Sir Reginald Bertrand Dunbarton. As Todd's real life oddly begins to parallel murderous aspects of his own crime story, he becomes more intertwined in his fictional narrative than he could ever have imagined. For just after the publication of his story is halted, the executor of Dunbarton's estate turns up murdered in the same manner as the victim in Todd's fictional story, and Todd finds himself the target of an actual murder investigation. What began as an attempt to get his story published becomes, with the help of a lovely young woman he meets in England, a quest to find the real murderer, a quest which takes on added urgency as he tries to eliminate himself as the prime suspect.
Author Biography
Daniel D. Victor is a high school teacher in his native Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and two sons. A graduate of Fairfax High School, he earned his BA at UC Berkeley, his MA at California State University, Los Angeles, and his Ph.D. in American Literature at the Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, CA. His doctoral dissertation, THE MUCKRAKER AND THE DANDY: THE CONFLICTING PERSONAE OF DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS, led to the creation of the Sherlock Holmes pastiche THE SEVENTH BULLET originally published as a Thomas Dunne Book by St. Martin's Press in 1992 and recently published in paperback by Titan Books of London. Its first two chapters also appeared in Cold Mountain Review, Appalachian State University. In addition to his writing, Victor has won numerous teaching awards including an independent study grant offered by the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as admission to two NEH summer seminars, one at UC Berkeley, the other at Oxford University in Oxford, England.