Bill Moody (author)

Bill Moody (September 27, 1941 – January 14, 2018[1]) was an American writer of detective fiction and a professional jazz drummer.

Bill Moody
Born(1941-09-27)September 27, 1941
Webb City, Missouri
DiedJanuary 14, 2018(2018-01-14) (aged 76)
Vallejo, California
OccupationNovelist; jazz musician
NationalityUnited States
GenreMystery

Biography

Moody grew up in Santa Monica, California and attended Boston's Berklee School of Music.[2]

Moody moved to Las Vegas in the mid-70s and stayed 20 years as a professional jazz drummer.[3] He also taught at the University of Nevada.[4]

Moody lived in northern California and taught creative writing at Sonoma State University.[3]

Writing career

In 1994, Moody's first published novel Solo Hand introduces his Evan Horne character, and addresses music royalties and blackmail.[5]

Moody wrote Death of a Tenor Man (1996) while teaching at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. The subject of this novel is the mysterious death of saxophonist Wardell Gray.[2][6]

His third Evan Horne mystery The Sound of the Trumpet (1997) involves lost recordings of trumpeter Clifford Brown.[7]

Bird Lives! (1999) centers around the murders of "smooth jazz" artists.[8]

In Looking for Chet Baker (2002) Horne investigates the disappearance of a friend who has been writing a paper on Chet Baker.[9]

Shades of Blue (2008) is not a murder mystery, but instead Horne investigates what might be original compositions of two famous Miles Davis recordings.[10]

In Fade to Blue (2011) Horne teaches an actor how to fake piano playing for a movie, but is drawn in to a murder investigation.[11]

Mood Swings (2014) is a collection of nine stories, each providing a view of the world of jazz through the eyes of nine musicians.

Moody has written two espionage novels: Czechmate: the Spy Who Played Jazz was written in 1986 but not published until 2012, and The Man in Red Square was published in 2013.[12]

Moody wrote his 1993 non-fiction book The Jazz Exiles based on his experiences living and working in Europe for three years.[2]

Music career

Moody has played with many jazz musicians, including Jon Hendricks, Lou Rawls, Maynard Ferguson, Russ Freeman, and Carson Smith.[2][4]

Bibliography

Evan Horne Series

Fictional mysteries featuring jazz pianist Evan Horne.

  • Solo Hand (1994) ISBN 1871033497
  • Death of a Tenor Man (1995) ISBN 0802732690
  • The Sound of the Trumpet (1997) ISBN 0802732917
  • Bird Lives! (1998) ISBN 0373263503
  • Looking for Chet Baker (2002) ISBN 1590585739
  • Shades of Blue (2008) ISBN 1590584856
  • Fade to Blue (2011) ISBN 1590588940

Other novels

Collections

Mood Swings (2014) ISBN 9781943402090

Nonfiction

The Jazz Exiles (1993) ISBN 978-0874172140

References
  1. "Bill Moody – author of mysteries and Cold War thrillers – jazz drummer". billmoodyjazz.com. Archived from the original on June 22, 2019. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  2. Hamlin, Jesse (March 16, 2002). "Moody's clues / Jazz drummer delves into the mysteries of the music world in his novels". San Francisco Gate. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  3. Hallaman, Paul (April 10, 2002). "Bill Moody, author of Looking for Chet Baker". Jerry Jazz Musician. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  4. Dunton, John (July 10, 2008). "Bill Moody's "Swinging Detective"". Jazz Profiles. Retrieved May 11, 2017.
  5. uncredited (February 1, 1994). "Review: Solo Hand". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  6. uncredited (October 1, 1995). "Review: Death of a Tenor Man". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  7. Breton, Marcela (November 1, 1997). "The Sound of the Trumpet by Bill Moody". JazzTimes. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  8. Stasio, Marilyn (June 27, 1999). "Review: Bird Lives". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  9. Santoro, Gene (April 7, 2002). "Die Cool". The New York Times. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  10. uncredited (February 1, 2008). "Review: Shades of Blue". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  11. uncredited (April 1, 2011). "Review: Fade to Blue". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
  12. Moody, Bill (March 19, 2013). "Behind the Book: The Man in Red Square". Crimespree Magazine. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
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