Dan J. Marlowe became a hard-boiled mystery writer shortly after the death of his wife. In 1977 he contracted amnesia.
 

"'You don't deserve it, but I’ll give you a choice,' I said. 'I was going to leave you out here, with the heat and the mosquitoes and the bugs and the snakes and the alligators. You’ll never make it in. I doubt if I could myself.' His whole face was wet as he stared at me. 'You won’t go easy if you stay, so I’ll give you the choice. Stay, or take one dead center from this.' I waved the little handgun … 'You’ll go out of your mind out here in twelve hours.' His chest was heaving as he tried to pump air through his constricted throat. 'Take the bullet.'"

 – Dan J. Marlowe, The Name of the Game is Death (1962)