Thomas Perry: R.I.P.

Such sad news. Thomas Perry passed away suddenly on September 27.  Tom Perry was a wonderful writer, supportive and kind to writers and readers, and an all around good-guy. More to come. So  unexpected. Taken too soon. My love and sympathy go out to his family and friends. May his memory be a blessing.

Posted by Tom's wife Jo Perry. 

From The Mysterious Press:

Tom was a bestselling thriller writer who was beloved by all who knew and worked with him... His first book, The Butcher’s Boy, won the Edgar Allan Poe award in 1983. He launched his popular and critically acclaimed series about Jane Whitefield in 1995 with Vanishing Act, chosen as one of the "100 Favorite Mysteries of the Century" by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association and was included in Parade's list of "101 Best Mystery Books of All Time." The last book in the series, The Tree of Light and Flowers, will be published in March 2026. 

The author of 31 novels, he has received numerous awards, including the Barry for Best Thriller of the Year for Hero earlier this month. 

Many of his books have been acquired by Hollywood studios, most recently The Old Man, a limited run television series starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow which premiered on FX on June 16, 2022; a second series made its debut on September 12, 2024. His novel Strip has completed filming as Bear Country, starring Russell Crowe. 

Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: R.I.P.

Such sad news. Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, 82, science fiction, horror, and mystery author, passed away on Sunday, August 31. She wrote over 80 novels and 70 short works of fiction. She was probably best known for her Saint-Germain historical vampire series and spin off Olivia De Clements. She also wrote several mysteries with Bill Fawcett under the name Quinn Fawcett. Her Charlie Spotted Moon mystery series were wonderful. Quinn was an expert on the occult, a Tarot and palm reader, as well as a musical composer. Truly a woman of many talents, she was named a World Horror Grandmaster in 2003, won a Bram Stoker Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, and received a World Fantasy Award for life achievement in 2014.

I first met Quinn at a science fiction convention in the late 70s where she read my Tarot cards. We connected over her love of mystery, though, and the friends we found we had in common. At that time, we we were also both members of MWA, and she was President of our chapter. Over the years, we often met at the post office in Berkeley where we both had PO Boxes. She was witty, supportive and to the point, never faltering. She will be missed by her many fans and friends.

Read Wiley Saichek's words here. 

JANE STANTON HITCHCOCK: R.I.P.

 

Sad news. Jane Stanton Hitchcock: R.I.P. I really liked her mysteries. So clever. 

Jane Stanton Hitchcock, "a daughter of privilege who skewered the foibles of her tribe in a series of addictive crime novels, and who then uncovered a real-life crime when her mother was swindled by her accountant, died on June 23 at her home in Washington, D.C. She was 78."

From the NYT: 

“Murder concentrates the mind,” she told The New York Times in 2002.

Her first novel, “Trick of the Eye” (1992), involved a trompe l’oeil artist named Faith Crowell and the unsolved murder of a long-dead Long Island debutante. Bruce Allen, assessing the novel in The New York Times Book Review, said that Ms. Hitchcock “knows how to write crackling dialogue that expresses character while steadily, stealthily advancing the plot.”

“Even if you guess the ending,” he wrote, “you will enjoy Faith Crowell’s compulsive fascination with ‘the fashion of making things appear to be what they are not.’”

In an interview, Jonathan Burnham, Ms. Hitchcock’s longtime book editor, said: “Nobody of her background wrote about their world the way she did — that New York high society world that has virtually disappeared. She managed to send it up in elegant satire. It slipped down very easily.”

Read the Obit here. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/29/books/jane-stanton-hitchcock-dead.html?searchResultPosition=1

From IACW North America:

It is with great sadness that we report the passing of Jane Stanton Hitchcock, multiple Hammett nominee. Her novel Trick of the Eye was one of the 1992 finalists for the Hammett award along with Donald Westlake, Walter Mosley, Alice Hoffman, and Daniel Woodrell.

In 2019, however, she won the award outright for her novel Bluff, which drew on her personal expertise as a professional level poker player. Humorous crime novels are quite rare and even rarer are those that hold up years later. Seek out a copy of Bluff if you have not read it and read it again to learn something about writing.Her entertaining satire of the upper classes drew on her personal knowledge as the adoptive daughter of a major tycoon and a popular actress. Jane herself was a delightful person, witty, intelligent, and, of course, sophisticated.

Linda Fairstein who informed us of Jane’s passing, mentioned “Jane, who was one of my best friends for 40 years, was immensely proud of the honor of being awarded the Hammett.” Her obituary in the New York Times even mentioned her pride in this achievement. She gave the impression to me that she didn’t quite understand just how talented she was."

JOHN F. "JACK" O'CONNELL: R.I.P.

John F. "Jack" O'Connell, author of noir crime novels set in the fictional New England city of Quinsigamond, died on January 1. Jack also wrote speculative fiction. He lived in Worcester, Massachusetts, with his wife, Nancy, and two children. He was a student, and taught, at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.  O'Connell died on January 1, 2024, at the age of 64.

Read a tribute to Jack O'Connell's life and books on The Rap Sheet

HT: J. Kingston Pierce, The Rap Sheet

Marv Lachman: R.I.P.

I feel I am a better person for having known Marv Lachman. His dedication to the mystery community is unparalleled. Besides everything mentioned below, he was the short story columnist for Mystery Readers Journal for over 40 years. His columns were always thorough and insightful. His knowledge of the genre was broad and deep, and he shared it with us all. Marv also compiled a yearly obituary list for Bouchercon. Sadly his will be included this year.

He wrote to me in February, telling me know about his illness. Always the professional, he wanted to let me know about his column. Marv wrote, 

"I don't know when (and if) I'll do another IN SHORT column for MRJ, which is a shame because I so enjoy doing them. Who knows? Miracles happen. 

It has been a joy knowing and working with you for forty years, and I wish you all the best in the future." 

Marv Lachman, it's been a joy knowing and working with you, too. You will be missed.

MARVIN LACHMAN

1932-2023

 
Marvin Lachman died on October 21 of complications related to cancer.  He grew up in the Bronx, New York, the son of Louis and Helen (Rickner) Lachman.   He graduated from Stuyvesant High School and the City College of New York.  Then he suffered through his two years of service as a draftee in the U.S. Army. But because he was stationed in New York for part of his time in the service and had access to the USO, he became a fan and scholar of theatre.   Following his honorable discharge he moved to Los Angeles where, in 1956 he was introduced to the future love of his life, Carol Ganelin.  Six weeks later, on January 12, 1957 they were married, and stayed that way until his death. On March 15, 1958, their son Steven was born in the Bronx.  Marvin was a loving and patient father.
 
He was passionate about a number of things – theatre, tennis, birding, show music, classical music, English language, but especially mysteries of which he became one of the world's preeminent scholars, writing extensively about the field in books and magazines. He was recognized by the Mystery Writers of America with “Edgar” and “Raven” awards, as well as many other awards.
 
As to tennis, he started playing at 17 and played his last set at 87, at which time he said “I think playing for 70 years is enough.
 
Marvin and Carol moved from the Bronx to Suffern NY in 1979 and then to Santa Fe in 1988 where they lived for more than 35 years.
 
Marv and Carol took great pride in starting the Friends of the Library Bookstore at the Southside Branch of the Santa Fe Public Library.
 
Besides wife Carol and son Steven, Marvin is survived by grandson Matthew Lachman (of Washington D.C.), granddaughter Shannon Dennis (of Menlo Park, CA) and great granddaughters Anna and Zoe.  Marvin loved and was proud of all of them.

_._,_._,_

Leighton Gage Obituary from SOHO Press

From Juliet Graves, Senior Editor, SOHO Press

I grieved to learn of the passing of Leighton Gage on Saturday, July 27th. I speak not only as his editor but on behalf of Soho Press, his publisher, and his Soho Crime confederates when I say we are bereft, both at the loss of the gentleman himself and at the reality that his last book will, indeed, be his last book. Each of Leighton’s six published novels—Blood of the Wicked, Buried Strangers, Dying Gasp, Every Bitter Thing, A Vine in the Blood, Perfect Hatred—have each been critical gems, and I am heartbroken to think that Leighton will not witness the critical reception of his forthcoming The Ways of Evil Men, which is due to be published in January 2014—I am certain it will be the warmest yet.

Leighton’s work is quite unlike anything else being written or published, and time will only prove its mettle. The novels—procedurals following a team of Brazilian federal police investigators under the phlegmatic command of Chief Inspector Mario Silva—are simultaneously taut and cinematic in their execution, noir confections of sharply drawn scenes and grisly ethical choices. I love them for their clever balance of thought-provoking social commentary and sheer entertainment. As Tom Nolan wrote in March 2012 in a Wall Street Journal piece on the entire Silva series, “Despite their social conscience and ambitious reach, there’s nothing stiff or programmatic about Mr. Gage’s lively, action-filled chronicles. They have finely sketched characters, vivid geographic detail and their own brutal sort of humor.” That vivid geographic detail is another very special feature of the books: Leighton takes the reader all over the massive country of Brazil and deep into its microcosms and remotest pockets in a way that only someone intimately and lovingly familiar with a subject can. His expertise allows him to offer the reader an immersive experience of something unfamiliar as well as a critical lens for observing our own respective societies—the noblest achievement, in my opinion, toward which modern fiction can aspire.

Leighton was a backbone of the crime fiction community as well as the Soho Crime family. A tireless author advocate with a powerful social media presence (he founded the blog Murder Is Everywhere, which is devoted to international crime fiction), Leighton was a mentor and friend to many authors at various stages in their careers. I only had the privilege of working with Leighton editorially on his three most recent books, and I am of heavy heart in acknowledging there will be no more, that we will not be toasting to his success at future crime conventions. On behalf of everyone at Soho, I extend our deepest condolences to Leighton’s lovely and gracious wife, Eide, and to the rest of his family.

In lieu of flowers, the family would truly appreciate donations to pancan.org, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network.

Juliet Grames
Senior Editor, Soho Press