Bad Actor: Received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author Keith Edward Vaughn.
- What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Bad Actor was published October 10, 2025.
- What’s the book’s first line?
The streets of Canoga Park looked defeated in a way Ellis Dunaway didn’t remember from when he was a kid riding his black Schwinn Tornado through them—to school, and the ballfields at Knapp Ranch Park, to Fallbrook Square Mall, and the 7-Eleven on Saticoy Street to spend his allowance on candy and comics, and sneak peeks at the porn magazines.
- What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
Private investigator Ellis Dunaway has been given a chance to reclaim his dream job as a television writer by scripting a new show for bad-boy actor Urs Schreiber. It could mean a comeback for both of them, until Urs’s agent is killed. When he becomes a suspect, he hires Ellis to clear his name.
- What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
Bad Actor and the first book in the Ellis Dunaway, P.I. mystery series, The Loneliest Places, were inspired by classic L.A. noir exemplified by Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. Bad Actor, expands on the genre with surreal, speculative elements, drawing inspiration from John Updike and John Cheever for their explorations of alienation and blending realism with myth and fantasy.
- What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
If you like voice-driven crime fiction that is funny, suspenseful, and poignant, Bad Actor is for you.
- What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who-real or fictional-would you say the character reminds you of?
Ellis Dunaway is a character who’s struggling with addiction and the disappointment of never achieving success he thought was assured. He’s a nepo baby who never quite learned how to try. But he still puts one foot in front of the other, tackling his demons and taking responsibility despite setbacks. He is a bit like a pot-head Charlie Brown in that way.
- What’s the best and the hardest part of being an indie?
The best part is knowing my books will be published exactly the way I want them. The hardest part is getting them exactly the way I want them. Getting noticed is also no picnic.
- Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
The writer I think about most is Charles M. Schulz because he is so brutally sad, funny, and true.
- Which book do you wish you could have written?
Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust. It’s so immersive and calming. I like to imagine it felt that way to write it. Also, it started out self-published and is now considered a masterpiece.