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Judith Rossner’s 1975 novel Looking for Mr. Goodbar was loosely inspired by the 1973 murder of New York schoolteacher Roseann Quinn. It is fiction, not a factual account of Quinn’s case: a federal court stated that the characters and events were only loosely based on the real murder. The court’s findings in Rossner v. CBS, Inc. make that distinction explicit.
What real crime inspired Looking for Mr. Goodbar?
The novel drew on the murder of Roseann Quinn, a 28-year-old schoolteacher who was killed in her Upper West Side Manhattan apartment in 1973. According to the federal court’s account, Quinn met John Wayne Wilson at a singles’ bar; police later apprehended and charged him in connection with her murder. The court opinion records those facts while distinguishing the case from Rossner’s fictional story.
| # | Preview | Product | Price | |
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Looking for Mr. Goodbar (Fiction Based on a True Story) | $17.99 | Buy on Amazon |
| 2 |
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Closing Time: The True Story of the "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" Murder | $9.45 | Buy on Amazon |
| 3 |
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Looking for Mr. Goodbar | $11.96 | Buy on Amazon |
| 4 |
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Looking for Mr. Goodbar | $82.36 | Buy on Amazon |
When was Roseann Quinn killed?
The murder occurred during the night spanning January 1 and 2, 1973. The court opinion gives January 1, while HISTORY describes the killing as taking place in the early hours of January 2, after Quinn met Wilson on New Year’s night. HISTORY’s account supplies that more specific overnight chronology.
Was Looking for Mr. Goodbar a true story?
No. Rossner’s novel was a work of fiction inspired by the case, not a documentary reconstruction. The court said Rossner had read newspaper reports and began a novel about a schoolteacher murdered by a man she met at a singles’ bar. Its finding is direct: “The novel is not a factual account of the Quinn murder, but the characters and the events depicted are loosely based on the actual murder.” That statement appears in Rossner v. CBS, Inc., decided in 1985.
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Rossner’s central character, Theresa Dunn, should not be treated as Quinn, and the novel’s plot should not be used as a record of the crime. The Los Angeles Times obituary later reported that Rossner’s interest in Quinn’s case first developed while she was preparing an unpublished Esquire article. The obituary provides that background, separate from the court’s findings.
How the novel differs from the true-crime account
Two books associated with the case serve different purposes. Rossner transformed the murder into fiction; reporter Lacey Fosburgh, who covered Quinn’s case for The New York Times, later wrote a separate true-crime book. The court record distinguishes the works as follows:
| Work | Author and publication | Relationship to Quinn’s case |
|---|---|---|
| Looking for Mr. Goodbar | Judith Rossner; published by Simon & Schuster in June 1975 | A fictional novel whose characters and events were loosely based on the murder, according to the 1985 court opinion. |
| Closing Time: The True Story of the “Goodbar” Murder | Lacey Fosburgh; published in 1977 | A separate true-crime book based on Quinn’s murder, as described by the court. |
The court opinion is the source for the publication details and distinction between the books. A film based on Rossner’s novel followed in 1977; the 1985 opinion separately discusses the 1983 television movie Trackdown: Finding the Goodbar Killer as a factual depiction of the Quinn investigation, not a sequel to the novel’s film.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How successful was Rossner’s novel?
In its 1985 findings, the federal court reported that the novel had sold approximately 133,000 hardcover copies and 3,609,059 paperback copies, and had appeared on bestseller lists for 27 weeks. These are historical figures cited in the court opinion, not current sales totals. The figures appear in Rossner v. CBS, Inc.
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