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| Christopher Fowler | |
British author Christopher Fowler, best known for his Bryant & May thrillers featuring veteran detectives solving unusual crimes in London from World War II to the present, died March 3 of cancer. He was 69. The Guardian reported that the series began with Full Dark House (2003), and 17 more novels followed, most recently London Bridge Is Falling Down (2021). A book exploring the London of the characters, Bryant & May's Peculiar London, came out last year.
Fowler's first novel was Roofworld (1988), followed by a number of supernaturally tinged novels like Spanky, Disturbia, Rune and Psychoville. In 2009, Fowler published his memoir Paperboy, "about growing up craving books in a house without any, which was followed in 2013 by Film Freak, about his time in the movie trade," the Guardian noted. He had just finished the manuscript for his third memoir, Word Monkey, before he died. It will be published in August.
A prolific blogger, he announced his illness on his website in April 2020, and this past January, in "The Last Post," he wrote that he would not be posting more updates. His final words on his blog were: "It's very hard to write now without falling asleep or forgetting what I was going to say. If there's something I really need to get out I'll put it on Twitter. So you might want to check your old @peculiar feed once in a while. All fun things have to come to an end. I love you all. Except for that horrible old troll--are there any other kind? There, now you have a smidgen of extra time on your hands, go have fun... and read a book."
Many writers posted tributes to Fowler on social media. Val McDermid tweeted: "So sorry to hear this. He gave me enormous pleasure over the years, as he did to so many. What a cornucopia of imaginative writing he's left us." Author Joanne Harris said: "My dear friend. Gone too soon. Never forgotten."
Horror and thriller writer Mark Chadbourn noted: "Very sad to hear of the death of my longtime friend and brilliant writer Christopher Fowler, gone far too young. I picked up Chris's books before I knew him--Roofworld was my first--and soon found how much we had in common. I'll miss you, old pal."