WALTER SATTERTHWAIT: R.I.P.

Mystery author Walter Satterthwait passed away on Sunday after a battle with COPD and congestive heart failure. He was 73. Besides being one helluva writer, Walter was a clever, funny, and quirky guy. I always enjoyed talking with him at conferences. He also contributed to Mystery Readers Journal. Although it's been awhile since I've seen him, he'll always have a place in my heart. I'll miss him.

On January 9 Walter wrote: My new (and last) short story is now available on Amazon. DOWN AND OUT THE MAGAZINE. If you'd like a signed copy, then send the thing to me (with return postage, unfortunately, and an envelope) and I'll sign it and shoot it back to you.

Thank you all again for all the help you've given me. May you be well, may you be safe, may you be happy, may you be enlightened.


You can read it, but sadly Walter won't be around to sign it for you.
I know I'll be reading and re-reading many of his books now.
***
From his friends:

Walter Satterthwait was as wickedly clever, smoothly charming, and dashingly adventurous as his unforgettable characters. 

Satterthwait authored fifteen novels, including the Joshua Croft series featuring a Santa Fe P.I., the first of which garnered a Shamus Award for Best First Novel of 1989. He also wrote mysteries starring historical figures, including two featuring Lizzie Borden; Wilde West, in which Oscar Wilde play detective on tour of the American West ; and three Pinkerton mysteries set in the first half of the 20th century featuring detectives Phil Beaumont and Jane Turner and such real-life historical figures as Harry Houdini, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, and even Hitler. Escapade, the first in the Pinkerton series earned Satterthwait a nomination for an Agatha Award for best novel of 1995, and a Prix du Roman d’Aventures in France. 

Also a master of the short story, his work was included in a variety of anthologies as well as two collections. His most recent short story was published in Down and Out Magazine in 2019. 

A complete bibliography can be found at http://stopyourekillingme.com/S_Authors/Satterthwait_Walter.html. 

Walter was born in Pennsylvania, but lived in and traveled to New York, Santa Fe, Greece, Africa, Thailand, and Europe, developing warm friendships around the world. A Buddhist, a raconteur, and a bon vivant, Satterthwait knew how to both seize the moment and let it go. We wish we could have held on to Walter for longer, but his words, in books and our conversations, live on.

***

Books and Short Stories

Joshua Croft  (P.I. in Santa Fe, NM)
1. Wall of Glass (1988)
2. At Ease With the Dead (1990)
3. A Flower in the Desert (1992)
4. The Hanged Man (1993) 
5. Accustomed to the Dark (1996)

Miss Lizzie  (Lizzie Borden)
1. Miss Lizzie (1989)
2. New York Nocturne (2016)

Escapade  (Pinkerston Agents Phil Beaumont & Jane Turner)
1. Escapade (1995)
2. Masquerade (1998)
3. Cavalcade (2005)

Non Series
Cocaine Blues (1979)
The Aegean Affair (1982)
Wilde West (1991)
Perfection (2006)
Dead Horse (2007)

Collections 
The Gold of Mayani (1995)
The Mankiller of Poojegai and Other Stories (2007)
The Sunken Sailor (2004) (with Simon Brett, Jan Burke, Dorothy Cannell, Margaret Coel, Deborah Crombie, Eileen Dreyer, Carolyn Hart, Edward Marston, Francine Mathews, Sharan Newman, Alexandra Ripley, Sarah Smith and Carolyn Wheat) 

Anthologies (Editor)
Tis the Season for Murder (1998) (with Fred Hunter and Barbara Burnett Smith)

Non fiction 
Sleight of Hand (1993) (with Ernie Bulow)