Whodunit?

In “Making a Killing”, Toronto screenwriter Mitch Draper is in a slump again. After his screenplay is produced (see review “Soon To Be A Major Motion Picture”), he is reduced to writing for kids’ television shows. Hoping to escape from his next assignment, writing about a “spunky” cat for a new series, “Travels With Willie”, Mitch agonizes his imagination for a new suspense melodrama. Inspired by a real-life murder suicide tale from the 70’s, Mitch imagines his fortunes may have improved. However, with the exception of a blurry “vision” of the opening scene, he is at a loss on how to proceed. Mitch’s best friend, Ramir, suggests he visit a charismatic New Age guru who has been helping him to get new acting gigs. Mitch, skeptical that Ramir is falling prey to a phony avaricious cult, finds his own meditations with the enigmatic Dr. Bhandari are effective in removing his writer’s “block”. One of the guru’s students is a cranky psychic who helps Mitch foresee a meeting with “tall, dark and handsome” stranger. Sure enough, Mitch meets a gorgeous producer who expresses interest in his screenplay and predicts an $80,000 advance.

Events take a dangerous turn when Mitch finds out that Dr. Bhandari was counseling seventeen-year old Trevor when he supposedly murdered his father and then committed suicide.

As Mitch researches the background of the murder, he begins to wonder if the case was precipitously open- and-shut. While having turbulent relations with all of his relatives and friends, Trevor was lovingly close with his father. Could it be, Mitch wonders, that Dr. Bhandari was having an illicit affair with the handsome young Trevor and was discovered? Perhaps the doctor killed the father and son to keep his reputation unsullied. Coincidentally, Dr. Bhandari runs the “Seven Gateways to Spiritual Success” out of the same gothic mansion where the murder occurred. Mitch worries about the safety of his friend Ramir becoming too close and dependent on the doctor; at the same time Mitch has to worry about his own safety as he surreptitiously tries to gain access to Trevor’s old room.

The list of suspects begins to grow: what about the surviving sister, the greedy mother, a jealous “boyfriend”? Mitch becomes much less a writer, and more of a private eye as his investigations continue.

Will there be a third mystery adventure for Mitch? One thing is certain, Warren Dunford knows how to keep us guessing with witty, ironic style, intriguing characters and bizarre plot twists; he could make a smooth transition from “autobiographical” diaries to the gay detective novel genre.

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