Death Is a Lonely Business

Much of chapter 22 centers on the evolution of Death Is a Lonely Business, Bradbury’s first sustained experiment in autobiographical fiction. The novel represents Bradbury’s long backward glance at his life in the late 1940s, when he first realized that he would be able to be successful as a mainstream author. This chapter tracks the long road culminating in Bradbury’s return to detective fiction and the influence of such precursors and friends as Ross Macdonald, Leigh Brackett, and James Crumley. Chapter 22 concludes with a broader range of life loves and influences as Bradbury described them to his pen-pal friend and fellow poet Helen Bevington.