Merry Christmas Murdock [Mass Market Paperback]

Robert J. Ray (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Ray's fourth Murdock novel, teenager Heather Blasingame is comatose after a hit-and-run "accident" at a glitzy California shopping mall. Her mother, a Texas state senator, gets no satisfaction from local police and hires the semi-scruffy Murdock to dig into a possible coverup. Murdock also helps poor-little-rich-girl Cindy of the powerful Duke family to find her missing father. Uncovering a connection between these cases, and also Cindy's uncle's penchant for child molestation, Murdock is threatened, his house is torched and one of the girls is murdered. (He also has a fling with "Senator Jane.") The body count is high at the melodramatic end after we meet a Mafia don, Murdock's flashy Vietnam-vet buddy Blazer and the tough, not unsympathetic Duke patriarch. Hard-boiled, soft-centered Murdock approaches sentimentality and some characters are shallow but Ray ( The Hit Man Cometh ) keeps the story moving smoothly.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback
• Publisher: Dell (November 1, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0440207789
• ISBN-13: 978-0440207788
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,894,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

robert j ray phd
born in texas, 1935
snow ice wind heat dust-storms sunday school rule red brick streets horses cows guns
school tennis paper route heartache journalism sports editor growing pains modest HS aptitude for english, Latin, Spanish; zero aptitude for math
more school at Modesto, Austin, Georgetown in DC (russian, chinese), U-Chicago (hindustani)
gradschool at UT: MA, PHD
college teacher - U kentucky, beloit college, chapman U (OC)
nightschool teacher - San Diego, Irvine, Seattle
studied tennis with 4 teachers who helped me become an intuitive inner game
tennis teacher San Diego, Beloit
married, divorced, remarried, moved with wife Margot to Seattle (for the weather)three cats so far

books:The Weekend Novelist(+ revised Weekend Novelist), The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery, The Weekend Novelist Redrafts the Novel (London), Bloody Murdock, Murdock Cracks Ice, Dial "M" for Murdock, Murdock for Hire, Merry Christmas, Murdock, The Hitman Cometh, The Art of Reading: A Handbook on Writing, Small Business: An Entrepreneur's Plan (5 editions) The Heart of the Game (tennis), Cage of Mirrors

courses taught: memoir, starting your novel, keeping going on your novel, rewriting your novel, key to your style, dialogue, intro to screenwriting, writing practice, going deep with myth-base, verbs
recommended writing guru: natalie goldberg
writing/teaching partner: jack remick
students taught to writer better: approx 10,000
world-view: the worst writer can get better; the best writer can jettison the ego and strive for perfection
advice: write every day, use a timer, don't cross out, keep the hand moving, go for the jugular

work-in-progress: action-thriller and its glittery screen adaptation