I was having trouble trying to wrestle this Tom Vargas story back into mystery mode, until I had a talk with my wife over it. In the process I came to the realization: it’s not a damned mystery. The next novel will be a mystery. This is a two-fisted pulp detective story, so I should stop trying to force it to be something else.
I might actually get the damned thing finished tomorrow, now. Huzzah! …At any rate, that was what the last four hours were about.