Adult Material

I received this email today from a DIAGNOSIS MURDER Fan.

I’ve heard some rumors of you (in you Diagnosis Murder Books )making Steve to be less than Mark , is any of this true? I also heard a rumor of ADULT MATERIAL in your third book , is that true ?

For those of you unfamiliar with DIAGNOSIS MURDER,  Steve is a homicide detective and the  son of deductive genius Dr. Mark Sloan. Conveniently, Steve is portrayed by Barry Van Dyke, who is the real life son of TV legend Dick Van Dyke, who played Dr. Mark Sloan. In the pilot episode, Mark Sloan was a widower with no children, but when DIAGNOSIS MURDER went to series, that changed (it changed again when, later in the series’ run, Dick Van Dyke’s daughter wanted to do a guest appearance as Mark Sloan’s daughter, so suddenly he had another child that was never heard of, mentioned, or seen before. You gotta love TV).

Dick Van Dyke’s photo is on the cover of the DIAGNOSIS MURDER books.
There are some fans who believe Barry’s photo should be on there, too. There are some fans who believe the books focus too heavily on Dr. Mark Sloan to the detriment of Steve Sloan. My feeling in the books, as it was when we produced the series, is that Dr. Mark Sloan is the star and everyone else is a supporting character.  Dr. Mark Sloan is the brilliant detective who solves the crimes… that was true in the series and now in the books.  If that makes Steve "less than Mark," I suppose the answer to the fan’s first question is yes…as it was in the TV show, too.

As for adult material, the books are no racier than the TV
series was. There’s no sex, profanity, or graphic violence. However, like the TV series, there is implied sex and implied violence…but the details are left to the reader’s imagination.   

12 thoughts on “Adult Material”

  1. I realize that I’m late to the party, but I somehow managed to miss DIAGNOSIS MURDER during its network run. Are repeats airing on any cable outlet?

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  2. That’s all fine and good Lee, but you didn’t answer the question, so I will.
    Part of the plot of Lee’s new book involves Steve’s sad and twisted exploration of the dom/submissive sex underground he’s longed for. In one interesting scene, he has a woman dressed as his father (right down to the stethescope)beat him into an orgasmic fury while he (Steve that is) repeats over and over again, “What do you think, dad? What do you think, dad?” Now that might show Steve in a lesser light, but boy is it hot.

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  3. I worked one dance/ball/gathering type of social event scene in an episode where Mark and Barry come in wearing tuxedos, as all the men did and Mark says to Barry, “Gee we’re the only one’s here without a date.”
    This was an off-camera personal comment. I would have gladly given them mine had I known my partner in that show would go on to torment me for a year.

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  4. Whoops, Tod made a little typo. Instead of “beat him into an orgasmic fury”, he probably meant to say “beat him into an orgasmic *furry*.”
    What I’m itching to know is how Dick Van Dyke can hold the same pose on the cover of each book, but the shirt can not only change color but the lapels change position. Now THAT’s acting.

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  5. What the hell are you talking about, Mark? What’s the point of posting all these insanely stupid nonsequitor’s on Goldberg’s blog? What does your comment about Dick Van Dyke carrying around his script in his pocket have to do with a god-damn thing?
    Yeah, yeah, yeah… you were an extra on Diagnosis Mruder…whoop-dee-fucking-doo. We’re SO impressed you got paid to stand still and keep your mouth shut. And yeah, yeah, yeah, you wrote some lousy piece of shit that was published by a vanity press because no real publisher would touch your excreble writing.
    We get the point. Go away.

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  6. The lesbians, Lee. This person was talking about the lesbians.
    Yeah, you make Steve out to be less the Mark in the detective business. But then again, that should be nothing new to fans of the show.

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  7. *That* was the “adult material”? I didn’t show the two womem going at it L-Word style. So am I to gather that the mere mention of homosexuality qualifies as “adult material?” Then again, I thought I was writing these books for adults, not grade schoolers anyway.

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  8. You did discuss their alibi in rather specific terms, too, if I recall (Who was doing what to whom). Not graphic, and certainly not more then PG. But I’d give it a PG rating.
    Then again, that’s what the show was rated when they started with the ratings.
    It wasn’t my favorite twist in the book, but I delt with it and am ready to move on to the next in the series. If I can ever find the time.

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