A send-up of the detective fiction genre with intermittent photographs, THE MAN IN THE BACK SEAT interweaves characters and events from three of Charlesworth's videos from 1981-82 and the photo-novella Special Communiqués.

The original version of The Man in the Back Seat was published in Working Papers in 1982. A revised narrative appeared in the book, Private Enemy - Public Eye: The Work of Bruce Charlesworth, published by Aperture and the International Center of Photography in 1989. With additional text revisions, the excerpt that appears here reverts to the 41/2 x 7-inch paperback format used in 1982.

The cover and first five pages of The Man in the Back Seat appear here to give a sense of how the photographs intersect the printed page. They are readable as enlargements only on a large screen.