Inspired by film Noir Classics, 'The Obit Writer' spoofs the genre with a dry wit. The story follows the fate of an ambitious young journalist who receives a suspicious, post-date obit on a famous, reclusive playwright (Norman Mailer). Believing he has stumbled upon a syndicate that select victims for complicated murder games, he determines to expose the killers, but his fatal misinterpretation of what is in fact an elaborate hoax leads to an unexpected end.