A Plot for Murder

A radio writer invents the perfect murder show-then discovers someone may be using his scripts as a blueprint for the real thing. Bill Tracy is an ex-newspaperman trying to turn a clever mystery idea into a radio success, but fiction stops feeling safe when the murders he imagined begin stepping off the page. What began as a gimmick becomes a deadly game of timing, pattern, and nerve.

Fredric Brown brings his usual speed, wit, and structural cleverness to this twisty mid-century mystery, mixing newsroom instincts, show-business satire, and murder-plot mechanics into a sharp little engine of suspense. The result is lighter and more playful than pure noir, but still a strong Black Curtain fit: murder, media, deception, and a killer who understands the entertainment value of fear.

First published as Murder Can Be Fun, this novel later appeared under the title A Plot for Murder, a title that usefully foregrounds both the radio-script hook and the real-world danger at the center of the story.