How Becoming a Barry Manilow Fan Helped Me Understand My Protagonist @zacbissonette

 LUCY BURDETTE: Today I'm delighted to welcome Zac Bissonette with his debut mystery, A KILLING IN COSTUMES. Zac and I "met" on Twitter after he made lovely comments about my DEADLY ADVICE. When I noticed he had a book coming out, I was sure you'd want to meet him too! Welcome Zac! (And do read all the way to the bottom to hear about his double giveaway...)

(September 2021: First live concert I’d been to since March 2020, to see my protagonist’s favorite singer, who I never would have dreamed of seeing before I realized he was my fictional character’s hero.)

ZAC BISSONETTE: In March 2020, I was living in New York City, and I received feedback from my first beta reader on my first novel, A Killing in Costumes. His comments were typical for a first draft. He identified major plot holes, horrible writing, undeveloped characters, and, I want to emphasize this again, a lot of horrible writing.

But this was March 2020 in New York City, and I wasn’t going to fix all that. So I focused on a more manageable criticism. My book has two protagonists and one of them, Jay, was a big Huey Lewis fan. My beta reader made a note, saying Huey Lewis didn’t seem right—“seems it should be something more retro Hollywood/no?”

Here was a manageable challenge: Who should Jay’s favorite singer be in this manuscript that was unlikely to ever be published? I don’t remember how, but Barry Manilow popped into my mind, even though I didn’t know much about him. My overall impression of him: kitschy Las Vegas, a massively devoted core of fans who called themselves Fanilows, an act as famous as a cultural punchline and a stand-in for middlebrow taste as for its actual music. Manilow was perfect for Jay, who is a former soap opera star turned Hollywood memorabilia dealer. Jay would be a Fanilow. 

So I dove into that time-honored time suck of writers terrified of the disappointment that would come from actually writing but too wary of feeling like a quitter to give up entirely: wildly superfluous research.

I listened to his greatest hits album, which I liked. Then, and there’s no way to say this other than to just say it, I bought a copy of his 1987 memoir, Sweet Life, and discovered something that shocked me: Barry Manilow is funny. And not just “humorous,” but genuinely hilarious. He’s also charming as hell, and, while the book was written more than twenty years before he came out of the closet, it manages to discuss his relationships and ambivalence in a way that feels thematically true to what he was actually feeling—revealing while still private.

From Left to Right: Perry Como, Barry Manilow

My boyfriend and I were living together in a one-bedroom apartment. Nothing was open, everyone was terrified, and I was calling him into the living room every few minutes to read him funny lines from Manilow’s memoir, shouting so he could hear me over the dulcet tones of ‘Trying to Get the Feeling Again.’ 

When my book begins, Jay is at a crossroads in his life, in his forties after a life of ups-and-downs and identity crises. Coming to terms with being gay had been hard, personally, because of his upbringing, and professionally, because of his public facing career. 

When I thought about Jay’s journey, and the obstacles he needed to overcome, it became clear why Manilow’s own rise from geek to superstar while staying true to his own unique, unhip style, would be so inspiring to him. As Barry himself puts it when introducing his song ‘All the Time’: “This song is about feeling like a misfit when you’re younger . . . I know it’s hard to believe, looking at the super megastar sex god I have turned into. But, really, I felt like a geek when I was a kid.” 

Understanding Jay’s Manilow fandom helped me understand Jay better—and hopefully make him richer for readers: Manilow is, on the page at least, a very minor part of the book—my boyfriend made sure of that. Which leads me to my one relationship tip: Find yourself a man who loves you enough to go see Barry Manilow twice in three months and to make sure Barry trivia doesn’t overwhelm your debut novel.

Readers and Writers: Do you have a favorite singer/actor/personality who’s influenced your life? Does your character? Leave a comment to be entered in the drawing for a copy of the new book and a script from an episode of Murder, She Wrote, signed by Tom Sawyer, a writer for the show and a longtime producer/show runner.

About Zac: New York Times bestselling author Zac Bissonnette‘s most recent book is 2015’s The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute. He is an equity analyst at a hedge fund, and lives in New York City with his partner and a tuxedo cat named Perry Como. A Killing in Costumes is his first novel.

About A Killing in Costumes

Stardom fades fast when you’re on the line for murder, in this debut cozy mystery perfect for fans of Richard Osman and Jenn McKinlay.

Jay Allan and Cindy Cooper were soap opera stars in the late ’90s, a wholesome young husband-and-wife duo who combined musical talent with humor and charisma. When the truth about their sexual orientations came to light, their marriage and TV careers ended, but decades later they have remained friends. Together, they open Palm Springs’ chicest movie memorabilia store, Hooray for Hollywood–but no customers and dwindling finances spell trouble.

A Hail Mary arrives in the form of Yana Tosh, a ninety-year-old diva of the silver screen who has amassed a valuable collection of costumes and props and is looking to sell. But first, Jay and Cindy have to beat their competition, a vice president from a mega-auction house with ten times their resources. And when he winds up dead, they become prime suspects in the murder.

With their freedom and livelihoods on the line, Jay and Cindy desperately need to clear their names. There are plenty of other potential suspects, but they’ll have to solve it soon before they’re forced to trade in their vintage costume collection for two orange jumpsuits.

“Zac Bissonnette’s contemporary twist on Agatha Christie’s Tommy and Tuppence is sure to enthrall traditional mystery fans. At the very core of this astonishing debut is love in various forms—and especially our eternal love of, and fascination for, Hollywood in all its glamor and glitz. The relationship of Cindy and Jay is the wonderful glue that pulls it all together. I hope they have a long and successful run in this new staging of “Murder, They Write.”

—Miranda James, NYT and USA Today Bestselling Author of The Cat in the Stacks and the Southern Ladies Mysteries

“Hooray for this smashing new cozy mystery by Zac Bissonnette! Chock full of old Hollywood references, eclectic collectible information, and delightfully set in sunny Palm Springs, there is so much to love in this perfectly executed, high stakes, puzzler of a mystery. I absolutely can’t wait to join these fun and fresh amateur sleuths, Cindy and Jay, on their next page turner of a mystery!” 

—Jenn McKinlay, New York Timesbestselling author of the Library Lovers Mystery series

“Mystery readers, especially those with a taste for vintage Tinseltown movies, stars, glamor, and the music of the era are going to love this beautifully, affectionately written novel.”

—Tom Sawyer, Emmy-Nominated Head Writer/Showrunner of Murder, She Wrote

Excuse a quick interruption, but Gillian B, you are the winner of the Leslie Karst book! Please contact her at ljkarst at gmail dot com