CyberGumshoe's Mumblings in November/December 2011
Gilbert Adair Dies
Gilbert Adair died of brain hemorrhage on December 08 in London. He was famous as a screen writer and film critic, but he wrote a number of novels, including three spoofs of Agatha Christie detective novels featuring mystery writer Evadne Mount: THE ACT OF ROGER MURGATROYD (2006); A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR OF STYLE (2007); and AND THEN THERE WAS NO ONE (2009, all three from Faber & Faber). He was 66. (December 13, 2011)
Louise Penny Wins Nero
The Wolfe Pack announced on December 03 at the Black Orchid Banquet in New York City that Louise Penny won the 2011 Nero Wolfe Award for BURY YOUR DEAD (Minotaur Books). (December 05, 2011)
Milton T. Burton Dies
Milton T. Burton died on December 01 after a brief illness. The ex-history teacher wrote three novels about crime and intrigue in East Texas. His first novel was THE ROGUES' GAME (Minotaur Books, 2005). TEXAS NOIR is a short story collection published by Down and Out Books in ebook in 2011. THE DEVIS'S ODDS will be published posthumously in 2012 from Minotaur Books. He was 64. (December 03, 2011)
Andrew Martin Wins Historical Dagger
The Crime Writers' Assoication of Britatin (CWA) announced on November 30 in London that Andrew Martin won the 2011 Ellis Peters Historical Award for THE SOMME STATIONS (Farber & Farber), featuring early 20th-century railway detective Jim Stringer. (December 01, 2011)
Tom Wicker Dies
Tom Wicker died of an apparent heart attack on November 25 at his home in Rochester, Vermont. He was most famous as the New York Times reporter writing about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He was very prolific and won the 1976 Edgar in the fact-crime category for A TIME TO DIE (Quadrangle NY Times, 1975) about the 1971 Attica Prison riot. He also authored a number of novels including THE KINGPIN (Sloan, 1953) and EASTER LILLY (Morrow, 1998), as well as three Gold Medal novels under the Paul Connolly pseudonym: GET OUT OF TOWN (1951); TEARS ARE FOR ANGELS (1952); and SO FAIR, SO EVIL (1955). He was 85. (November 26, 2011)
Grimes to Become Grand Master
The Mystery Writers of America (MWA) has announced that Martha Grimes will receive its 2012 Grand Master Award at The Edgar Awards Banquet to be held in New York City on April 26, 2012. Grimes is well-known as the bestselling author of the Richard Jury series.
On the same date, M is for Mystery, a mystery bookstore located in San Meteo, California, and Molly Weston of Meritorious Mysteries are the recipients of the 2012 Raven Award for "outstanding achievement in the mystery field outside the realm of creative writing," while Joe Meyers, the mytery reviewer for the Connecticut Post, will be given the 2012 Ellery Queen Award for his "generous and wide-ranging suport of the genre." (November 24, 2011)
Winslow Wins Falcon Again
The membership of The Maltese Falcon Society Japan voted Don Winslow's THE WINTER OF FRANKIE MACHINE (Knopf, 2006) the winner of the 2011 Maltese Falcon Award, given to the best hardboiled/private eye novel published in the previous year in Japan. Winslow previously won two Maltese Falcon Awards for THE POWER OF THE DOG in 2010 and A COOL BREEZE ON THE UNDERGROUND in1994. Among the previous Falcon Award winners are S. J. Rozan, Michael Connelly, Lawrence Block, Joe Gores, Sue Grafton. (November 17, 2011)
Dick Adler Dies
I belatedly found out that Dick Adler died on November 11 in Ventura, California. He was an editor of Argosy and West Coast magazines, and reviewed mysteries for The Chicago Tribune. He co-authored PUBLIC JUSTICE, PRIVATE MERCY (Grove Press, 1989) with Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, and SLEEPING WITH MOSCOW (Carol Pub Group, 1987) with Anatole Verbitzky. HIS DREAMS OF JUSTICE (Poisoned Pen Press, 2005) is a collection of his reviews for the Tribune. He authored THE MOZART CODE (Mundania Press, 1999), an e-book featuring private eye Ivan Davis. He also serialized two aborted novels, MEN'S ADVENTURE (2007) and FORGET ABOUT IT (2010-2011) for The Rap Sheet blog. He was 74. (November 17, 2011)
George J. Thompson Dies
It has been found out that George J. "Rhino" Thompson died on June 07, 2011 at his home in Cayuga, New York. He was well-known within law enforcement as a creator of Verbal Judo, a communications methodology to "defuse violence through words and professional presence." Before becoming a police officer, he was a university English professor. He wrote a doctoral dissertation on Dashiell Hammett, "The Problem of Moral Vision in Dashiell Hammett's Novels" in 1972 and received his Ph. D. from the University of Connecticut. The dissertation was reprinted in seven issues of The Armchair Detective (TAD) starting with the May 1973 issue. His critical analysis was arguably the first one on Hammett. I first read it in TAD in the early 70's and was very impressed. Having written seveal Verbal Judo-related books, he finally updated his doctoral dessertation, which was published for the first time in book form as HAMMETT'S MORAL VISION (Vince Emery, 2007) with a new introduction by William F. Nolan. He was 69. (November 17, 2011)
Florence Parry Heide Dies
Florence Parry Heide (rhymes with tidy) died in her sleep at her home in Kenosha, Winsconsin on October 24. She was a prolific chirldren's book author best known for MAXIMILIAN (1967) and THE SHRINKIN OF TREEHORN (1971). She wrote more than 100 titles, and collaborated with Roxanne Heide Pierce, one of her children, on two mystery series: the Spotlight Club mysteries (MYSTERY AT KEYHOLE CARNIVAL, etc) and the Billstone mysteries (BLACK MAGIC AT BRILLSTONE, etc). She was 92. (November 01, 2011)
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