Sat 15 Nov 2008
Death Noted: JOHN WRIGHT (1933-2008).
Posted by Steve under Authors , Obituaries / Deaths Noted[3] Comments
I received some sad news this morning. John Wright, a mystery writer living in South Africa whom I interviewed here on the blog back in February 2007, has passed away.
That post included a complete bibliography of his mystery fiction, and of course I hope you’ll go back and read the entire interview. In it we also touched on several of his other achievements, including a life-long interest in old-time radio and early comic book fandom.
It’s been a while since I heard from him, but some good news he was able to pass along is that several of the PI novels he wrote as Wade Wright have recently been reprinted by Ramble House.
Here’s the email I received today:
Dear Friends,
It is with a sad heart that I give you the news of John passing away on Friday the 14th at 3 AM.
He had been in hospital for the last week and I had prepared everything for him to come home as the Doctor was of the opinion that though he would be bedridden, I would be able to nurse him at home with some assistance. The Lord knew best and took him home as he was in a lot of pain and discomfort.
Your friendship over the years has meant a great deal to John, and I know we have all lost someone of great worth. Someone, who has touched our lives in so many ways and will be deeply missed.
The funeral service is to be held at St Marks on Wednesday the 19th at 11 AM, and though you can not be here your thoughts and prayers can be with him as we say our last farewell until we meet again.
God Bless.
Love Coral
November 15th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Sad news Steve about the death of John Wright. I just ordered Death At Nostalgia Street from the Ramble House site which you highlighted. It sounds like the type of story I have to read considering my interest in collecting old back issues of magazines.
I would now like to take the opportunity to complain about the thousands of dollars that you have forced me to spend over the past 30 years, mainly from your book reviews, comments, letters, emails and face to face conversations. In today’s economy I can ill afford to keep spending massive amounts of money on books, yet you continue to get me interested in buying books from such interesting authors as John Wright. Ron Goulart is the only other person I can think of who has influenced me into buying even more books and magazines. I was happily collecting only SF magazines when I made the mistake in 1967 of reading his anthology The Hardboiled Dicks. Now I am practically buried under a mass of pulp paper and books.
November 15th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Obviously I never met John, but through our email conversations, he was always very much the gentleman and a fan of many things collectible. I haven’t read the book you just bought, Walker, but Bill Pronzini recommends it highly.
And lest anyone think Walker is kidding in that last line, whether it’s my fault or not, I can tell you he’s not.
— Steve
November 15th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
I never met John Wright in person yet I had a warm feeling that we had know each other all our lives; he was a very nice gentlemen and was always concerned about my health and well being. I will miss John Wright; to me he was a special person always a fond greeting each time we sent email to each other. I am a believer of Jesus Christ and one day I shall greet John face to face with a shout and a song; forever he will live in my memory. Gene Jack Hall U.S.A