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Disillusioned with acting, Tryon retired from the profession in 1969 and began writing horror and mystery novels. He also moved into film financing, serving as executive producer of Dalton Trumbo\'s Johnny Got His Gun (1971).
His best-known work is The Other (1971), about a boy whose evil twin brother may or may not be responsible for a series of deaths in a small rural community in the 1930s. The Other was highly successful, spending over 6 months on the New York Times best-seller list and selling more than 3.5 million copies. He adapted his novel into a film released the following year that starred Diana Muldaur, Uta Hagen, and John Ritter. He followed this with Harvest Home (1973), about the dark pagan rituals being practiced in a small New England town. It was adapted as The Dark Secret of Harvest Home (1978), a television miniseries starring Bette Davis. This too spent several months on the Times best-seller list. It was highlighted in the October 21, 1973, edition as a top fiction title.
Tryon\'s other books include Crowned Heads, a collection of novellas inspired by the legends of Hollywood. Tryon sold the film rights to Universal to make four films based on the novellas.[9] The first of these novellas, Fedora, about a reclusive former film actress whose relationship with her plastic surgeon is similar to that between a drug addict and her pusher, was later converted to a feature film directed by Billy Wilder.[10]
Other novellas in the collection were based on the murder of former silent screen star Ramón Novarro and on the complicated relationship between actor Clifton Webb and his mother. Lady (1974) concerns the friendship between an eight-year-old boy and a charming widow in 1930s New England and the secret he discovers about her. His novel The Night of the Moonbow (1989) tells the story of a boy driven to violent means by the constant harassment he receives at summer camp. Night Magic, written in 1991, was posthumously published in 1995.
Tryon said \"I found that the real reward was the writing itself, working at it day by day and finally accomplishing something -- that was it. To have a book published is one of the most exciting things that can happen to you. Infinitely more rewarding than acting\".[1]
