I heard on another list that a true legend in short mystery, Edward D.
Hoch, passed away today. According to the information I have, his wife found him collapsed in the shower. He'd already passed by the time she got to him.
I met Mr. Hoch several times, at Bouchercons and other mystery gatherings. He
was a true gentleman. Kind, encouraging to new writers, modest about his own
accomplishments, and enthusiastic about the genre.
He won a well-deserved Edgar in the short story category for his classic "The
Oblong Room," an entry in perhaps his most enduring series, which featured
Captain Jules Leopold, the commander of the homicide detail in a suburban police
force north of New York. Mr. Hoch was also an MWA past president, and a Grand
Master.
He was also one of the most versatile writer in our field. During his career,
he wrote police procedurals (the aforementioned Leopold series), hard-boiled
private eye stories, spy stories, western/mystery crossovers, cozies, pastiches,
locked room mysteries, etc., and all of them superbly plotted fair-play whodunits.
For the last 35 years or so, Mr. Hoch had a story printed in every single issue of EQMM, making him the mystery short story equivalent of Lou Gehrig or Cal Ripken. Crime fiction's "Iron Man."
He was also one of the very few mystery writers who was able to make a living
exclusively on his short stories, the medium in which our genre first appeared.
His passing is a great loss to the mystery field.