A Plot for Murder by Frederic Brown

  It's set in New York City in pre-television times. Our hero (using the term very loosely) is Bill Tracy, a former hard-drinking newspaperman who's now a hard-drinking writer for a popular radio soap opera named "Millie's Millions." It's in the tradition of the silent-screen series "The Perils of Pauline" and every episode sees Millie facing new dangers and troubles and (to the huge relief of her fans) surviving by the skin of her teeth. It pays well, but cranking out five inane episodes a week is boring, soul-destroying work.