Paul D. Marks (died February 28, 2021) was an American novelist and short story writer. His novel ''White Heat'', a mystery-thriller set during the

Rodney King riots The 1992 Los Angeles riots, sometimes called the 1992 Los Angeles uprising and the Los Angeles Race Riots, were a series of riots and civil disturbances that occurred in Los Angeles County, California, in April and May 1992. Unrest began in So ...

of 1992, won the first

Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one si ...

for Independent Private Eye Novel from the Private Eye Writers of America. His story "Ghosts of Bunker Hill" (''EQMM'' December 2016) was voted #1 in ''

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Publications, Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is ...

''’s 2016

Readers Choice Award ''Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine'' (''EQMM'') honors authors each year as voted upon by readers, hence the name, Readers Choice Award. Recipients include many of the most popular authors of thrillers and mysteries. Presentation Awards are bestowe ...

and was nominated for a

Macavity Award The Macavity Awards are a literary award for mystery writers. Nominated and voted upon annually by the members of the Mystery Readers International, the award is named for the " mystery cat" of T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' ...

for Best Short Story. "Bunker Hill Blues" (''EQMM'' September/October 2017) came in #6 in the 2018 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's poll. "Howling at the Moon" (''EQMM'' November 2014) was short-listed for both the 2015

Anthony Award The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the m ...

and

for Best Short Story, and came in #7 in ''Ellery Queen''’s Reader’s Choice Award. Marks’ story “Windward” from the ''Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea'' anthology was selected for the
2018 Best American Mystery Stories
' (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), edited by

Louise Penny Louise Penny is a Canadian author of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centred on the work of francophone Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Penny's first career was as a radio broadcaster for the Can ...

Otto Penzler Otto Penzler (born July 8, 1942) is a German-born American editor of mystery fiction, and proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City. Biography Born in Germany to a German-American mother and a German father, Penzler moved to The B ...

. "Windward" also won the 2018 Macavity Award for Best Short Story and was short-listed for the 2018 Shamus Award for Best Short Story and was a 2018 Derringer finalist in the Best Novelette category. ''Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea'', which was co-edited by Marks and Andrew McAleer, was nominated for a 2018 Anthony Best Anthology award. "Fade-out on Bunker Hill" (EQMM March/April 2019) came in #2 in ''

Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine ''Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine'' is a bi-monthly American digest size fiction magazine specializing in crime fiction, particularly detective fiction, and mystery fiction. Launched in fall 1941 by Mercury Press, ''EQMM'' is named after the fict ...

''s 2019

. His fiction was recognized by the SouthWest Writers, Lorian Hemingway International Short Story Competition, Futures Fire to Fly, Southern Writers Association, Deadly Ink Short Story Competition, and Glimmer Train Very Short Fiction. His short fiction was published in ''Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine'', Akashic’s Noir series (St. Louis), '' Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine'', Crimestalker Casebook and more. He was co-editor of the ''Coast to Coast: Sea to Shining Sea'' mystery anthologies from Down & Out Books. According to Steven Bingen, co-author of ''MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot'', Marks was also the last person to have shot a film on the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

backlot. “That 40 page chronological list I mentioned of films shot at the studio ends with his aul D. Marks’name on it.” He served on the boards of the Los Angeles chapters of

Sisters in Crime Sisters in Crime is an organization that has 4,500 members in 60+ regional chapters worldwide, offering networking, advice and support to mystery authors. Members are authors, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and librarians bound by their ...

and the

Mystery Writers of America Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City. The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday. It presents the Edgar Award ...

Career

A native of Los Angeles, much of Marks’ writing was inspired by the city’s history and culture. Los Angeles and Southern California is often as much a “character” in his work as the human characters. Novelist and Anthony Award finalist, S.W. Lauden has said of Marks’ work: “… t’salmost as if the region was one of the main characters.” His stories often dealt with the changing nature of the city and the displacement it causes people. His characters were frequently people who time has passed by or who no longer fit in today’s society. Marks’ first novel, the Shamus-Award winning ''White Heat'', takes place during the Rodney King Riots and deals with race and racism in the context of a mystery-thriller. Vortex, his second full length work, is also set in Los Angeles and updates the noir theme of a soldier returning home from war feeling alienated. Both are heavily influenced by the Los Angeles region and vibe. His Ellery Queen Reader's Choice Award-winning short story, ''Ghosts of Bunker Hill'', is set in the

Angelino Heights Angelino Heights, alternately spelled Angeleno Heights, is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Situated between neighboring Chinatown and Echo Park, the neighborhood is known for its concentration of eclectic architectural styles from ...

community of old Victorian houses and LA’s downtown Bunker Hill neighborhood, and was inspired by his explorations of the area before it was torn down for redevelopment. Though mostly known for

mystery novels Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as s ...

, crime and

noir fiction Noir fiction (or roman noir) is a subgenre of crime fiction. Definition In its modern form, noir has come to denote a marked darkness in theme and subject matter, generally featuring a disturbing mixture of sex and violence and death in some ...

, he wrote in a variety of genres, including mainstream and literary. ''Terminal Island'', the story of Japanese immigrants in a fishing community off the coast of Los Angeles and their interaction with a new white neighbor during World War II was published in '' Weber: The Contemporary West''. Marks’ influences included

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

Dashiell Hammett Samuel Dashiell Hammett (; May 27, 1894 – January 10, 1961) was an American writer of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories. He was also a screenwriter and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade ('' ...

David Goodis David Loeb Goodis (March 2, 1917 – January 7, 1967) was an American writer of crime fiction noted for his output of short stories and novels in the noir fiction genre. Born in Philadelphia, Goodis alternately resided there and in New York Cit ...

Dorothy B. Hughes Dorothy B. Hughes (August 10, 1904 May 6, 1993) was an American crime writer, literary critic, and historian. Hughes wrote fourteen crime and detective novels, primarily in the hardboiled and noir styles, and is best known for the novels ''In ...

John Fante John Fante (April 8, 1909 – May 8, 1983) was an American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his semi-autobiographical novel ''Ask the Dust'' (1939) about the life of Arturo Bandini, a struggling writer in Depre ...

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

Walter Mosley Walter Ellis Mosley (born January 12, 1952) is an American novelist, most widely recognized for his crime fiction. He has written a series of best-selling historical mysteries featuring the hard-boiled detective Easy Rawlins, a black private inv ...

James Ellroy Lee Earle "James" Ellroy (born March 4, 1948) is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a telegrammatic prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, sta ...

and even artist

Edward Hopper Edward Hopper (July 22, 1882 – May 15, 1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. While he is widely known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching. Hopper created subdued drama ...

. He also was influenced by

film noir Film noir (; ) is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and motivations. The 1940s and 1950s are generally regarded as the "classic period" of American ' ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

history, including the Hollywood “dream factories,” and various styles of music. He studied short story writing under

T.C. Boyle Thomas Coraghessan Boyle, also known as T. C. Boyle and T. Coraghessan Boyle (born December 2, 1948), is an American novelist and short story writer. Since the mid-1970s, he has published sixteen novels and more than 100 short stories. He won the ...

, at USC. Marks' non-fiction articles have appeared in the ''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California. It is the flagship of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado-based Digital First Media. The offices of the ''Dai ...

'', the ''

Los Angeles Herald Examiner The ''Los Angeles Herald Examiner'' was a major Los Angeles daily newspaper, published in the afternoon from Monday to Friday and in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. It was part of the Hearst syndicate. It was formed when the afternoon ' ...

'', and ''American Premiere'' magazine. He was also a contributing editor to ''The Hollywood Gazette''. Marks blogged on a periodic basis at
7CriminalMinds.blogspot.com
an
SleuthSayers.org

Bibliography

P.I. Duke Rogers Series

* ''White Heat'', Marks’ Shamus Award-winning novel, re-published May, 2018 by Down & Out Books. * ''Broken Windows'', the sequel to ''White Heat'', September, 2018 by Down & Out Books.

Editor

* Coast to Coast Anthologies: * ''Coast to Coast: Murder from Sea to Shining Sea'', September 2015, co-edited with Andrew McAleer and includes the Shamus Award-nominated story ''The Dead Detective'' by Robert Levinson * ''Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea'', January 2017, also co-edited with Andrew McAleer and includes the Agatha Award-nominated story ''A Necessary Ingredient'' by Art Taylor * ''Coast to Coast: Noir from Sea to Shining Sea'', September 2020, also co-edited with Andrew McAleer. Was named "Best of 2020" by Suspense Magazine in the Anthology category.

Stand-Alones

* ''The Blues Don't Care'' (a Bobby Saxon Mystery), June 2020 * ''Vortex'', September 2015 * ''L.A. Late @ Night: 5 Noir & Mystery Tales from the Dark Streets of Los Angeles'', February 2014

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marks, Paul D. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male novelists American male short story writers Shamus Award winners Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American short story writers 21st-century American male writers