James Anderson RIP

This is somewhat belated news as I've only found out via the Allison and Busby catalogue that James Anderson died earlier this year. He is probably best recognised as the author of the Golden Age homages - The Affair of the Blood Stained Egg Cosy, Affair of the Mutilated Mink Coat and The Affair of the 39 Cufflinks (his most recent book). His website has been taken down but you can read a bit more about him and his books on Wikipedia and his publisher's page.

Magdalen Nabb RIP

Book2book report some very sad news:

William Heinemann and Diogenes Verlag AG report that Magdalen Nabb sadly died suddenly at the weekend. Her funeral was held on Monday in Florence.

Magdalen Nabb was born in Lancashire in 1947, and trained as a potter. She had lived in Florence since 1975 and pursued a dual career as crime writer and children's author. Her novels which featured Florentine investigator Marshal Guarnaccia include Death of an Englishman, Property of Blood, and most recently, Some Bitter Taste and The Innocent.

William Heinemann intend to publish her last novel, Vita Nuova, in 2008, with an Arrow paperback scheduled for 2009.

John Gardner RIP

Oh dear, it seems it one author after another at the moment. John Gardner, author of numerous books including 14 James Bond titles died on 3 August.

The Independent Obituary begins:

John Gardner, author of more than 50 thrillers, including 14 James Bond books, was a workaholic and recovered alcoholic who even in his 81st year was still writing at all hours. He worked every day - even a little on Christmas Day. "I work because I am scared stiff of losing the ability to put words together," he said. "Touch wood, it's never happened, but I have nightmares that it might."

His fictional characters included the cowardly secret agent Boysie Oakes (introduced in The Liquidator in 1964, the first of a series of books Gardner described as "born in the hope of being an amusing counter-irritant to the excesses of the many imitators of 007") and Big Herbie Kruger (who first appeared in The Nostradamus Traitor in 1979). He also expanded and developed Arthur Conan Doyle's Moriarty in The Return of Moriarty, 1974; The Revenge of Moriarty, 1975; and a third volume, provisionally titled The Redemption of Moriarty, which he had just completed before his death.

Gardner took over the Bond books in 1981 after being approached by the literary copyright owners, Glidrose. (Kingsley Amis had written just one Bond book after Ian Fleming's death in 1964.) "What I wanted to do," he said, "was take the character and bring Fleming's Bond into the Eighties as the same man but with all he would have learned had he lived through the Sixties and Seventies." The first new Bond was Licence Renewed (1981) in which M reminds Bond that the 00 section has been abolished; however, M retains Bond as a troubleshooter, telling him "You'll always be 007 to me." Other titles included Nobody Lives Forever (1986), Win, Lose, or Die (1989) and, the one Gardner considered his best, The Man from Barbarossa (1991)

Gardner was ambivalent about Bond, regarding the character as "one- dimensional", and was at first reluctant to write about a character he had not devised himself. He said: "I'm used to putting a lot more flesh on my characters. And of course with Bond I can't. It wouldn't be in keeping with the way Fleming depicted him." However, he refused to "dumb down" Bond. "What the Americans wanted," he said, "was: 'Bond goes to see M, flirts with Moneypenny, goes off, Bond loses the baddy, baddy gets Bond' and then 'Bond triumphs'. And I thought, 'erm, no'". But he enjoyed the trappings, including a Bentley (his second) and a silver Saab 900 Turbo, which his version of Bond switched to later.

The obituary concludes with:

During his Bond period, Gardner told friends: "Unhappily, I feel I'm probably going to be remembered as the 'guy who took over from Fleming'. I'm very grateful to have been selected to keep Bond alive. But I'd much rather be remembered for my own work than I would for Bond."

Read the whole obituary here.

R D Wingfield RIP

Sad news comes from The Rap Sheet that R D Wingfield, author of the Frost series, has died aged 79. He managed to complete a sixth Frost book, 'Killing Frost', before he died, which is to be published next year.

Stuart MacBride leads the tributes.

Leo Kessler RIP

Leo Kessler died on Tuesday aged 80. From the Telegraph:

Charles Whiting, who died on Tuesday aged 80, was one of Britain's most prolific authors, with some 350 books to his credit.

Also known by the pseudonyms Leo Kessler, Duncan Harding and John Kerrigan, Whiting churned out book after book - mainly war thrillers, but also works of history - which sold millions of copies and attracted a loyal following.

His fiction was seldom reviewed in the mainstream press and, when it was, was often accused of being too violent and sensational. But Whiting always claimed that he wrote from personal experience of being an ordinary squaddie who knew what it was like to "sleep, eat, live - and perhaps die - in a muddy hole in the ground".

Read the full article here and the BBC's article here.

Jill McGown RIP

It's not been a good week. Sadly the Jill McGown newsletter reports the following:

Sadly, after a long period of illness which she handled with unfailing good humour and fortitude, Jill died on Friday April 6.

We are in discussion with Una Adams, Jill’s sister, regarding the future of the site, and over the next few weeks we hope to let you know where we are going with this. In the meantime no doubt your thoughts will be with Jill’s family at this sad time.

Jill McGown was the author of the Lloyd and Hill police procedural series set around a fictionalised Corby. There was a one-off tv show starring Life on Mars' Philip Glenister as Lloyd a few years ago on ITV.

There's lots of information about her books and settings on her website, hopefully this will be maintained for a while.

UPDATE: Read Julia Buckley's tribute to Jill McGown.

Michael Dibdin RIP

I'm shocked and saddened to learn that the talented writer Michael Dibdin has died aged 60. The Telegraph's obituary sums up his life and his Aurelio Zen books. I remember seeing him on the tv as one of the pundits on the programme announcing the Booker prize awards - someone whose name I recognised and had read. I haven't yet read his Zen books but I do recommend 'A Rich Full Death'. The final (presumably) Zen book is due out in July, aptly called 'End Games'.