Warren Burton Murphy (September 13, 1933 – September 4, 2015) was an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

, most famous as the co-creator of '' The Destroyer'' series, the basis for the film '' Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins''.

Early life

Murphy was born in Jersey City, New Jersey on September 13, 1933. He worked in journalism and politics until launching the Destroyer series with Richard Sapir in 1971. A screenwriter (''

Lethal Weapon 2 ''Lethal Weapon 2'' is a 1989 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Richard Donner, and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Joss Ackland, Derrick O'Connor and Patsy Kensit. It is a sequel to the 1987 film ''Lethal Weapon'' ...

'', ''

The Eiger Sanction ''The Eiger Sanction'' is a 1972 thriller novel by Trevanian, the pen name of Rodney William Whitaker. The story is about a classical art professor and collector who doubles as a professional assassin, and who is coerced out of retirement to ave ...

'') as well as a novelist, his work won a dozen national awards, including multiple Edgars and Shamuses. He lectured at many colleges and universities.

Writing

Murphy was one of the authors of the screenplay for ''

'' in 1975, and also co-wrote (with series creator

Shane Black Shane Black (born December 16, 1961) is an American filmmaker and actor who has written such films as ''Lethal Weapon'', ''The Monster Squad'', ''The Last Boy Scout'', ''Last Action Hero'', and ''The Long Kiss Goodnight''. As an actor, Black is ...

) the original story for ''

''. He is the author of the ''Trace'' and ''Digger'' series. With Molly Cochran, he completed two books of a planned trilogy revolving around the character "The Grandmaster": ''The Grandmaster'' (1984) and ''High Priest'' (1989). Murphy also shared writing credits with Cochran on '' The Forever King'' and several novels under the name Dev Stryker. Some of his solo novels include ''Jericho Day'', ''The Red Moon'', ''The Ceiling of Hell'', ''The Sure Thing'' and ''Honor Among Thieves''. Over his career, Murphy has sold over 60 million books. In 2002, Murphy started his own publishing house, Ballybunion, as a vehicle to start ''The Destroyer'' spin-off books. Ballybunion reprinted ''The Assassin's Handbook'', as well as the original works ''Assassin's Handbook 2'', ''The Movie That Never Was'' (a screenplay he and

Richard Sapir Richard Ben Sapir (; 1936–1987) is best known for '' The Destroyer'' series of novels that he co-created with Warren Murphy. The first ''Destroyer'' was written in 1963, while Sapir worked as a city hall reporter in Jersey City and Murphy se ...

wrote for a Destroyer movie that was never optioned), ''The Way of the Assassin'' (the wisdom of Chiun), and ''New Blood'', a collection of short stories written by fans of the series. He served on the board 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 ...

, and was also a member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Association of Crime Writers, the American Crime Writers League and the Screenwriters Guild. In April 2007, Warren returned to co-authoring ''The Destroyer'', which is now published 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 ...

. His final novel, ''Bloodline'', was released by Tor in 2015.

Awards and acclaim

Murphy received a number of awards and nominations for his work. ''Ceiling of Hell'' won the 1985

Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one ...

in the "Best Original Private Eye Paperback" category. His 1999 short story, "Another Day, Another Dollar", won the "Best Short Story" Shamus award. His novel ''Grandmaster'' won the 1985 Edgar Award for "Best Paperback Original Mystery Novel". His novel ''Trace: Too Old a Cat'' was nominated for "Best Paperback Original" at the 1987 Anthony Awards and the Shamus Awards of the same year. Also ''Smoked Out'' was nominated in this category in 1983, ''Trace'' in 1984 (along with a 1983 Edgar Award nomination), ''Trace and 47 Miles of Rope'' in 1985, ''Trace: Pigs Get Fat'' in 1986 (along with a 1986 Edgar Award nomination); and ''Trace: Too Old a Cat'' in 1987.

Personal life

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veteran, Murphy's hobbies included golf, mathematics, opera, and investing. He had five children from previous marriages—Deirdre, Megan, Brian, Ardath and Devin—and two more with former wife

Nancy Cartwright Nancy Cartwright (born October 25, 1957) is an American actress. She is the long-time voice of Bart Simpson on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'', for which she has received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Perform ...

, to whom he was married from 1988 until 2002.

Death

Murphy died on September 4, 2015 in

Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...

at the age of 81, of heart failure resulting from lung disease, just nine days shy of his 82nd birthday.Obituary
legacy.com; accessed September 6, 2015.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Warren 1933 births 2015 deaths American spy fiction writers Edgar Award winners Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey Shamus Award winners 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American male novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American male writers Novelists from New Jersey