Friday, July 31, 2009

William G. Tapply, R.I.P.


William G. Tapply, author of the Boston lawyer-turned crime-solver Brady Coyne mystery series, died of leukemia Tuesday at his Hancock, NH home. He was 69. He was known also for his collected essays, a book about his father, and his articles and columns in "Field & Stream" and other magazines.

A few weeks ago, Tapply wrote a note on his website that mentioned his poor health and the good news of the imminent publication of five more books of fiction and essays. Dark Tiger, the third book in his Stoney Calhoun mystery series, will be out in September from Minotaur Books.

Beginning with 1984's Death at Charity Point, he wrote a total of 23 Brady Coyne mysteries. Coyne also appears in 3 mysteries he co-wrote with Philip R. Craig. He also wrote The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing a Modern Whodunit (1995).

Bill contributed a wonderful article about his writing, his life, and his books to the first Sports Mysteries issue of Mystery Readers Journal almost 20 years ago.

MidCurrent has an extended obituary including a tribute by Norman Zeigler.

3 comments:

vallerose said...

So sad. I knew his name, but have never read him. Too many fine writers going unread. I'll try to find a book soon.

martha crisp said...

very sad. I
loved the Brady Coyne books

Janet Rudolph said...

Yes, very sad.