Marilyn's Mystery Reads

This is the second Past Masters and Mistresses I’ve written in the past two months, and I hope I won’t have to write another one for a long, long time.

Thomas Perry passed away on September 15 in Los Angeles, age 78.

Thomas Perry was born in Tonawanda, New York.  He received his B.A. from Cornell University and his Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of Rochester.   Before starting his writing career he worked as a laborer, maintenance man, commercial fisherman, weapons mechanic, university administrator, and teacher.

His debut novel, The Butcher’s Boy, won the 1983 Edgar Allan Poe award for Best First Novel, and he went on to write three more books in the series that features a professional assassin.  He then created the Jane Whitefield series about a Native American woman who gives people in trouble new identities and assists them in starting their new lives.  Mr. Perry also wrote stand-alone thrillers, for a total of 32 novels.  In addition, he wrote and produced television episodes of “Simon & Simon,” “Snoops,” “The Oldest Rookie,” and “Sidekicks” with his wife, Jo Lee Perry.

Earlier this year, in an interview with Writers’ Digest, an excerpt of which appears in his obituary in the Boston Globe, Mr. Perry said, “I’ve been working at developing narratives in which we see and understand the complexity of motive, temperament, and history that a character brings when he comes into collision with other characters.”

He was greatly admired by his peers.  Robert B. Parker called him “quite simply, brilliant“; Stephen King said he was a writer “who can be depended upon to deliver high voltage shocks, vivid, sympathetic characters, and compelling narratives”; and Lawrence Block commented, “No one makes killing bad guys more fun.”

The Tree of Life and Flowers, the author’s final book, will be published posthumously in February.

Mr. Perry received numerous honors and awards, including the Barry Award and the Anthony Award.  In closing, I will quote Booklist: Mr. Perry is “the ultimate thinking person’s writer.”  He was surely a writer’s writer, and he will be missed.

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