Richard Scott Prather (September 9, 1921 – February 14, 2007) was an American
mystery
Mystery, The Mystery, Mysteries or The Mysteries may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
*Mystery, a cat character in ''Emily the Strange''
Films
* ''Mystery'' (2012 film), a 2012 Chinese drama film
* ''Mystery'' ( ...
novelist
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...
, best known for creating the "Shell Scott" series.
He also wrote under the
pseudonyms David Knight and Douglas Ring.
Biography
Prather was born in
Santa Ana, California and spent a year at Riverside Junior College (now
Riverside Community College
Riverside City College (RCC) is a public community college in Riverside, California. The college is part of the Riverside Community College District, as well as the larger California Community Colleges System.
History
RCC first opened in 1916 at ...
).
He served in the
United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marines are United States civilian mariners and U.S. civilian and federally owned merchant vessels. Both the civilian mariners and the merchant vessels are managed by a combination of the government and private sectors, an ...
during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, from 1942 through the end of the war, in 1945. That year he married Tina Hager and began working as a civilian chief clerk of surplus property at
March Air Force Base
March Air Reserve Base (March ARB), previously known as March Air Force Base (March AFB) is located in Riverside County, California between the cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, and Perris. It is the home to the Air Force Reserve Command's ...
in
Riverside, California
Riverside is a city in and the county seat of Riverside County, California, United States, in the Inland Empire metropolitan area. It is named for its location beside the Santa Ana River. It is the most populous city in the Inland Empire an ...
. He left that job to become a full-time writer in 1949. The first Shell Scott mystery, ''Case of the Vanishing Beauty'', was published in 1950. It would be the start of a long series that numbered more than three dozen titles featuring the
Shell Scott character.
At Prather's death in 2007, he had completed but not published his last Shell Scott Mystery. His final novel, ''The Death Gods'', was published October 2011, in print and ebook formats by Pendleton Artists, with permission of the Richard S. Prather Estate and Linda Pendleton.
Publisher
Prather had a disagreement with his publisher,
Pocket Books
Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books.
History
Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing ...
, and sued them in 1975. He gave up writing for several years and grew
avocado
The avocado (''Persea americana'') is a medium-sized, evergreen tree in the laurel family ( Lauraceae). It is native to the Americas and was first domesticated by Mesoamerican tribes more than 5,000 years ago. Then as now it was prized for ...
s. In 1986, he returned with ''The Amber Effect''. In 1987, Prather's penultimate book, ''Shellshock'', was published in hardcover by
Tor Books
Tor Books is the primary imprint of Tor Publishing Group (previously Tom Doherty Associates), a publishing company based in New York City. It primarily publishes science fiction and fantasy titles, and is the largest publisher of Chinese sci ...
. He donated his papers to the Richard S. Prather Manuscript Collection at the
University of Wyoming
The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...
, in
Laramie, Wyoming
Laramie is a city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States. The population was estimated 32,711 in 2019, making it the third-largest city in Wyoming after Cheyenne and Casper. Located on the Laramie River in southeast ...
.
Personal life
Prather's wife, Tina Hager, died in April 2004 after 58 years of marriage.
Awards and honors
*
Private Eye Writers of America
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...
Lifetime Achievement Award (1986)
* Twice served on the board of directors of the
Mystery Writers of America
Mystery Writers of America (MWA) is an organization of mystery and crime writers, based in New York City.
The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday.
It presents the Edgar Awa ...
Bibliography
Shell Scott novels
* ''Case of the Vanishing Beauty'' — 1950
* ''Bodies in Bedlam'' — 1951
* ''Everybody Had a Gun'' — 1951
* ''Find This Woman'' — 1951
* ''Dagger of Flesh'' — 1952
* ''Darling, It's Death'' — 1952
* ''Way of a Wanton'' — 1952
* ''Always Leave 'em Dying'' — 1953
* ''Ride a High Horse'' a.k.a. ''Too Many Crooks'' —1953
* ''Pattern for Panic'' — 1954
* ''Strip for Murder'' — 1956
* ''The Wailing Frail'' — 1956
* ''The Deadly Darling'' — 1957
* ''Have Gat - Will Travel'' (short stories) — 1957
* ''Three's a Shroud'' (novelettes) — 1957
* ''The Scrambled Yeggs'' (published in 1952 as ''Pattern for Murder'' under pseudonym "David Knight") — 1958
* ''Slab Happy'' — 1958
* ''Take a Murder, Darling'' — 1958
* ''Over Her Dear Body'' — 1959
* ''Double in Trouble'' (with
Stephen Marlowe
Stephen Marlowe (born Milton Lesser, in Brooklyn, New York, died , in Williamsburg, Virginia) was an American author of science fiction, mystery novels, and fictional autobiographies of Goya, Christopher Columbus, Miguel de Cervantes, and Ed ...
, co-starring Marlowe's series character Chester Drum) — 1959
* ''Dance with the Dead'' — 1960
* ''Dig That Crazy Grave'' — 1961
* ''Shell Scott's Seven Slaughters'' (short stories) — 1961
* ''Kill the Clown'' — 1962
* ''Dead Heat'' — 1963
* ''The Cockeyed Corpse'' — 1964
* ''Joker in the Deck'' — 1964
* ''The Trojan Hearse'' — 1964
* ''Dead Man's Walk'' — 1965
* ''Kill Him Twice'' — 1965
* ''The Meandering Corpse'' — 1965
* ''The Kubla Khan Caper'' — 1966
* ''Gat Heat'' — 1967
* ''The Cheim Manuscript'' — 1969
* ''Kill Me Tomorrow'' — 1969
* ''The Shell Scott Sampler'' (short stories) — 1969
* ''Dead-Bang'' — 1971
* ''The Sweet Ride'' — 1972
* ''The Sure Thing'' — 1975
* ''The Amber Effect'' — 1986
* ''Shellshock'' — 1987
* ''The Death Gods'' - 2011
Other novels
* ''Lie Down, Killer'' — 1952
* ''The Peddler'' — 1963 (published in 1952 under pseudonym "Douglas Ring")
* ''The Peddler'' - 2006 by Hard Case Crime
As David Knight
* ''Pattern for Murder'' — 1952 (published in 1958 as ''The Scrambled Yeggs'' under Prather's name)
* ''Dragnet: Case No. 561'' — 1956
As Douglas Ring
* ''The Peddler'' — 1952 (published in 1963 under Prather's name)
As editor
* ''The Comfortable Coffin'', stories by
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...
,
Evan Hunter
Evan Hunter, born Salvatore Albert Lombino,(October 15, 1926 – July 6, 2005) was an American author and screenwriter best known for his 87th Precinct novels, written under his Ed McBain pen name, and the novel upon which the film '' Blackb ...
,
Stanley Ellin,
Erle Stanley Gardner
Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was an American lawyer and author. He is best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, but he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces and also a series of nonfiction b ...
, and others
Notes
References
* Reilly, John M., editor. ''Twentieth Century Crime and Mystery Writers'' (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1980): entry
* ''Marquis Who’s Who in America'' (2002 edition): entry
The Richard S. Prather / Shell Scott WebsiteArchived - Last: 26 June 2012 - Visit: 26 June 2021
External links
at the Internet Book List
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prather, Richard S.
1921 births
2007 deaths
20th-century American novelists
21st-century American novelists
American male novelists
American thriller writers
American sailors
American mystery writers
Shamus Award winners
Writers from California
Riverside City College alumni
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
United States Merchant Mariners of World War II