RIP Janwillem van de Wetering (1931-2008)

Thanks to Sarah for noticing that Maine/Dutch crime writer Janwillem van de Wetering has died, on 4 July, in Maine, at age 77. Obits at Radio Netherlands, in Dutch at De Papieren Man, and lots of Dutch and Afrikaans language remembrances. Van de Wetering’s entry at Wikipedia.
15 July Update: Finally, an obit in the NYT.

RIP Tasha Tudor (1915-2008 )

Children’s book illustrator and author Tasha Tudor, “whose delicate and dreamy artwork was featured in about 80 books, including a 1944 edition of Mother Goose that was so successful it enabled her to buy a farm and create a lifestyle rooted in the early 19th century,” has died at age 92 of complications related to […]

Author Obit: Arthur C. Clarke, 1917-2008

British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke died in in Sri Lanka on 19 March 2008, which, for those of us in the U.S., is tomorrow, which seems appropriate somehow. Clarke was 90 and had published more than 100 fiction and non-fiction books, and the short story The Sentinel, which was made into the film […]

Author Obit: William F. Buckley, Jr., 24 Nov. 1925 - 27 Feb. 2008

Conservative commentator, author and journalist (founder of National Review) Bill Buckley has died today at age 82 after suffering with diabetes and emphysema. Among his books are God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of ‘Academic Freedom’ (1951), McCarthy and His Enemies (1954, with L. Brent Bozell), spy novels featuring Blackford Oakes, Right Reason: A […]

Author Obit: Phyllis Whitney, 9 Sept. 1903 - 8 Feb. 2008

Phyllis Whitney, prolific writer of romantic suspense for adults and novels and mysteries for young adults, died yesterday at age 104 of pneumonia. Her last book, Amethyst Dreams (1997), set on Topsail Island, NC, was published when she was 94. She was just getting around to working on her autobiography.
Obituary in the NYT.
Whitney’s website.

RIP George MacDonald Fraser (2 April 1925 - 2 Jan. 2008)

George MacDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman adventure series, published from 1969 to 2005, died of cancer today in England.  More from the AP, Guardian, and The Independent.