The Pima County Sheriff's Department is investigating the death of a woman, who was found in a Foothills home along with a man injured from a self-inflicted gunshot.
The man was identified as Hayford Peirce, 78. Online profiles state Peirce is a prolific author of science fiction and mystery novels as well as short stories.
The woman found dead was identified as Wanda Zhang Peirce, 51, a former owner of a now-closed Oro Valley restaurant.
The department said deputies went to a home in the 6000 block of North Pontatoc Road, near North Swan Road and East Sunrise Drive, to conduct a welfare check late Thursday.
Hayford Peirce was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Zhang Peirce was pronounced dead at the home, the department said.
Zhang Peirce was the previous owner and chef of a Chinese cuisine restaurant in Oro Valley. The restaurant was named Harvest Moon Chinese Restaurant, then Wanda Z's Chinese. It closed in 2015, according to Star archives.
Hayford Peirce is a writer of numerous science fiction and mystery books and short stories, according to an online profile.
Peirce, the profile states, has written numerous science fiction books, with such titles as "Napoleon Disentimed," "Phylum Monsters," "Flickerman," and "Black Hole Planet." His mysteries include a "Trouble in Tahiti" series of novels.
He has written numerous short stories for the science-fiction magazines "Analog," "Galaxy," and "Omni," as well as mystery shorts for "Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine" and "Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine."
Most of his stories are light-hearted and satiric in tone, with elements of black humor and occasional surprising grimness, according to an online profile. Peirce lived in Tahiti for many years, then moved to San Francisco before moving to Tucson, according to fantasticfiction.com.
No other information was released by the sheriff's department.
