He attended UCLA, where he was a reporter and feature writer for the Daily Bruin student newspaper, in addition to his aforementioned journalism work. There he befriended Lewis Perdue, the paper's journalism advisor from 1979 to 1982, who got Goldberg his first writing assignment for Pinnacle Books. The novel, .357 Vigilante, was published under the pseudonym "Ian Ludlow" in 1985.[1] The novel spawned three more sequels and the series' movie rights were optioned by New World Pictures. Although the movie was never made, his script for the movie, co-written with fellow UCLA classmate William Rabkin, led to a long career in television and film. Their first television credit was on the "If You Knew Sammy" episode of Spenser: For Hire about an author of vigilante novels.[2]
Film and television
His subsequent writing and producing credits include Murphy's Law, SeaQuest DSV, The Cosby Mysteries, and Monk, among others. He is perhaps best known for his stint as supervising producer and executive producer of the long-running series Diagnosis Murder starring Dick Van Dyke as a doctor who solves crimes.
In 2007, Goldberg wrote and produced the pilot for a German television program, Fast Track: No Limits.[3][4] which aired on television in some countries and was released as a theatrical film in others.
In 2010, he wrote and directed the short film Remaindered, based on his short story for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, on location in Kentucky. He wrote and directed the sequel, Bumsicle, in 2012.
In April 2021, Constantin Films announced that they will be producing a feature film version his novel The Walk based on his screenplay adaptation.[5]
In April 2024, ID8 Media and producers Shelby Stone and Derek Dudley announced that they will be producing a TV series based upon his novel Malibu Burning[6]
Writing
In conjunction with his work on Monk and Diagnosis Murder, Goldberg wrote several original tie-in novels based on those series.[7][8] He has also penned several original crime novels, two featuring ex-cop-turned-Hollywood troubleshooter Charlie Willis and the aforementioned .357 Vigilante series, which he wrote under the pseudonym Ian Ludlow, while still a UCLA undergraduate student.[9]
His novel, The Man with the Iron-On Badge (titled Watch Me Die for its re-release), was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America and was produced in 2007 as the stage play, Mapes For Hire, in Owensboro, Kentucky at the International Mystery Writers Festival.
Goldberg has also written non-fiction books about the entertainment industry, including Unsold Television Pilots and Successful Television Writing. His book, Unsold Television Pilots, was turned into two TV specials – The Greatest Shows You Never Saw on CBS and The Best TV Shows That Never Were on ABC, both written and produced by William Rabkin and Goldberg. They also co-created The Dead Man an original, monthly series of horror novels that rolled-out in October 2011[10] as the premiere titles of Amazon's new 47North sci-fi/horror/fantasy imprint.[11] Amazon initially ordered 12 books and, in February 2012, extended the series by 12 more. The 24th title, the Kindle Serial Reborn, was published in January 2014 and is the final book in the series to date.
In June 2013, his novel The Heist, the first in a five-book series written with Janet Evanovich, was released by Random House.[12] A prequel short story, "Pros and Cons," was published in May 2013 and became the #1 bestselling Kindle Single for seven straight weeks...and hit both the New York Times and USA Today bestseller lists.[13]The Heist debuted at #2 on the USA Today bestseller list and #5 on the New York Times bestseller list. The sequel, The Chase, debuted at #1 on the Publishers Weekly bestseller list[14] and #2 on The New York Times bestseller list[15] in March 2014. The fifth book in the series, The Pursuit, was published in June 2016 and hit #1 on the New York Times bestseller list.[16]
His novel True Fiction, was published by Amazon/Thomas & Mercer in April 2018.[17] It was followed by Killer Thriller in February 2019 and Fake Truth in April 2020. All three books are "Ian Ludlow" thrillers, the novelist hero sharing the same name as the pseudonym that Goldberg used to write his .357 Vigilante paperbacks when he was in college in the 1980s.
His series about Detective Eve Ronin, the youngest homicide detective on the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department history, kicked off with Lost Hills in January 2020 and was followed by Bone Canyon (January 2021) Gated Prey (Oct 2021), Movieland (June 2022).[18][19][20]Dream Town (January 2024)[21], and Fallen Star, a cross-over with his Sharpe & Walker series (Coming in October 2025).
Malibu Burning,[22] the first novel in a series about LASD arson investigator Walter Sharpe and his partner Andrew Walker, an ex-U.S. Marshal, was released in September 2023, and was followed by a sequel Ashes Never Lie, a cross-over with his Eve Ronin series, in September 2024.[23] A third cross-over novel, Hidden in Smoke, is coming in April 2025.
His standalone thriller Calico was released in November 2023.[24][25] and was a finalist for the Western Writers of America's 2024 Spur Award for Best Contemporary Western.[26]
Publishing
In September 2014, Goldberg launched the publishing company Brash Books with novelist Joel Goldman.[27] The company publishes new crime fiction as well as award-winning, highly acclaimed crime, thriller and suspense novels that have fallen out of print.[28]
In 2018, Goldberg acquired the copyright to the published and unpublished books by the late author Ralph Dennis,[29] who is best known for his Hardman series of crime novels, which were a major influence on the work of novelist Joe R. Lansdale[30] and screenwriter Shane Black.[31] The Hardman series, with introductions by Joe R. Lansdale, Ben Jones and Robert J. Randisi, among others, as well as Dennis' thriller The War Heist (Goldberg's edited down and revised version of Dennis' 1976 novel MacTaggart's War[32]) were released by Brash Books in 2019. In February 2020, Brash Books released "All Kinds of Ugly," a long-lost, final Hardman novel, which Goldberg discovered and revised.[33]
In December 2020, he launched another publishing imprint, Cutting Edge Books, to release vintage crime novels, thrillers, westerns, and literary fiction from the 40s, 50s, and early 60s that had fallen out-of-print, including the work of authors Robert Dietrich (E. Howard Hunt), James Howard, March Hastings (Sally Singer), Stuart James, Bud Clifton (David Derek Stacton), and Richard Himmel.[34]
Awards
Goldberg has been nominated twice for an Edgar Award by the Mystery Writers of America and twice for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America. He was the 2012 recipient of the Poirot Award from Malice Domestic.
Television Series Revivals (1993) retitled "Television Fast Forward" in the 2010 ebook edition
Science Fiction Film-Making in the 1980s (1994) – co-written with William Rabkin, Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier
The Dreamweavers: Fantasy Film-Making in the 1980s (1994) – co-written with William Rabkin, Randy & Jean-Marc Lofficier
Successful Television Writing (2003) – co-written with William Rabkin
Tied In- The Business, Craft, and History of Media Tie-In Writing (2010) – editor
The James Bond Films 1962-1989 (2022)
The Joy of Sets: Interviews on the sets of 1980s Genre Movies (2022)
Standalones
The Walk (2004) Kindle Edition 2009
The Man with the Iron-On Badge (2005) Kindle Edition 2011 (retitled Watch Me Die)
Top Suspense: 13 Stories by 12 Masters of the Genre (2011) Contributor
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads (2010) contributor
Die, Lover, Die! (2011) contributor
McGrave (2012)
King City (2012)
Ella Clah: The Pilot Script (with William Rabkin, Aimee Thurlo & David Thurlo) (2013)
Hollywood vs the Author (2018) contributor
The Buy Back Blues (Afterword to novel by Ralph Dennis) (2019)
All Kinds of Ugly (Afterword to novel by Ralph Dennis) (2020)
Tales of a Sad, Fat Wordman (Introduction to novel by Ralph Dennis) (2020)
Collectibles Edited by Lawrence Block (Contributor, Short story Lost Shows) (2021)
Crown Vic A collection of two novellas, Ray Boyd isn't Stupid and Occasional Risk, about a roaming criminal named Ray Boyd, whom Goldberg calls 'the anti-Reacher.' (2023)
Calico (2023)
Eight Very Bad Nights Edited by Tod Goldberg (Contributor, Short Story, If I Were a Rich Man, his third featuring Ray Boyd) (2024)
