Bill Crider (July 28, 1941 – February 12, 2018) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

author of

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

among other work.

Biography

He received a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree at the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

, in Denton. Later, he taught English at

Howard Payne University Howard Payne University is a private Baptist university in Brownwood, Texas. It is affiliated with the Baptist General Convention of Texas. Howard Payne College was founded by Reverend Noah T. Byers and Dr. John David Robnett in 1889. The institu ...

for twelve years, before earning a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, where he wrote a dissertation on the

hardboiled Hardboiled (or hard-boiled) fiction is a literary genre that shares some of its characters and settings with crime fiction (especially detective fiction and noir fiction). The genre's typical protagonist is a detective who battles the violence o ...

detective novel. He then moved to

Alvin, Texas Alvin is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metropolitan area and Brazoria County. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the city population was 27,098. Alvin's claim to fame is Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, ...

, with his wife, where he was the Chair of the Division of English and Fine Arts at

Alvin Community College Alvin Community College (ACC) is a public community college in Alvin, Texas. Alvin Community College provides educational opportunities in workforce training, academics, technical fields, adult basic education, and personal development. As defi ...

. He retired in August 2002 to become a full-time writer. He was the author of the Professor Sally Good and the Carl Burns mysteries, the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series, the Truman Smith P.I. series, and wrote three books in the Stone: M.I.A. Hunter series under the pseudonym "Jack Buchanan". He was also the writer of several westerns and horror novels.

Personal life and death

Crider had two children, Angela Crider Neary and Allen Crider, with his wife of 49 years Judy (née Stutts, 1943–2014). Crider died at his home in

, on February 12, 2018 of cancer, at the age of 76.

Bibliography

Mystery novels

Sheriff Dan Rhodes series

:*''Too Late to Die'' (Walker, 1986; Ivy, 1989) – ''(Winner of the

1987 Anthony Award Bouchercon is an annual convention of creators and devotees of mystery and detective fiction. It is named in honour of writer, reviewer, and editor Anthony Boucher; also the inspiration for the Anthony Awards, which have been issued at the conv ...

for Best First Novel)'' :* ''Shotgun Saturday Night'' (Walker, 1987; Ivy, 1989) :* ''Cursed to Death'' (Walker, 1988; Ivy, 1990) :* ''Death on the Move'' (Walker, 1989; Ivy, 1990) :* ''Evil at the Root'' (St. Martin's, 1990; Ivy, 1991) :* ''Booked for a Hanging'' (St. Martin's, 1992) :* ''Murder Most Fowl'' (St. Martin's, 1994) :* ''Winning Can Be Murder'' (St. Martin's, 1996; Worldwide, 2000) :* ''Death by Accident'' (St. Martin's Press, April 1998, ; Worldwide, 2000) :* ''A Ghost of a Chance'' (St Martins Press, July 2000, ; Worldwide, October 2001) :* ''A Romantic Way to Die'' (St. Martins Press, November 2001) :* ''Red, White, and Blue Murder'' (St. Martin's Press, October 2003) :* ''The Empty Manger'' (Worldwide, November 2001) – novella included in the collection ''Murder, Mayhem, and Mistletoe'' :* ''A Mammoth Murder'' (St. Martin's Press, April 2006) :* ''Murder Among the O.W.L.S.'' (St. Martin's Press, January 2007) :* ''Of All Sad Words'' (St. Martin's Press, February 2008) :* ''Murder in Four Parts'' (St. Martin's Press, February, 2009) :* ''Murder in the Air'' (St. Martin's Press, August, 2010) :* ''The Wild Hog Murders'' (St. Martin's Press, July, 2011) :* ''Murder of a Beauty Shop Queen'' (St. Martin's Press, August, 2012) :* ''Compound Murder'' (St. Martin's Press, August, 2013) :* ''Half in Love with Artful Death'' (St. Martin's Press, August, 2014) :* ''Between the Living and the Dead'' (St. Martin's Press, August, 2015) :* ''Survivors Will Be Shot Again'' (St. Martin's Press, August, 2016) :* ''Dead, To Begin With'' (St. Martin's Press, August 2017) :*''That Old Scoundrel Death'' (St. Martin's Press, February 2019)

Carl Burns series

:* ''One Dead Dean'' (Walker, 1988) :* ''Dying Voices'' (St. Martin's, 1989) :* ''. . . A Dangerous Thing'' (Walker, 1994; Worldwide, 1996) :* ''Dead Soldiers'' (Five Star, June 2004)

Truman Smith series

:* ''Dead on the Island'' ( Walker, 1991) – ''(Nominated for the

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 si ...

for Best First Private Eye Novel)'' :* ''Gator Kill'' ( Walker, 1992) :* ''When Old Men Die'' (Walker, 1994) :* ''The Prairie Chicken Kill'' (Walker, 1996) :* ''Murder Takes a Break'' (Walker, 1996)

Stanley Waters series

(co-authored with

Willard Scott Willard Herman Scott Jr. (March 7, 1934 – September 4, 2021) was an American weather presenter, radio and television personality, actor, narrator, clown, comedian, and author, whose broadcast career spanned 68 years, 65 years with the NBC br ...

) :* ''Murder under Blue Skies'' (Dutton, 1998; Onyx, 1999) :* ''Murder in the Mist'' (Dutton, 1999; Onyx, 2000)

Professor Sally Good series

:* ''Murder Is An Art'' (St. Martin's, 1999) :* ''A Knife in the Back'' (St. Martin's, 2002) :* ''A Bond with Death'' (St. Martin's, 2004)

Stand-alone mystery and suspense novels

:* ''Blood Marks'' (St. Martin's, 1991; Gold Medal, 1993) :* ''The Texas Capitol Murders'' (St. Martin's, 1992) :* ''We'll Always Have Murder: A Humphrey Bogart Mystery'' (iBooks, 2001) (intended as first of a Bogart series) :* ''Houston Homicide'' (with Clyde Wilson) (Five Star, December 2007)

House-name spy fiction

:* ''The Coyote Connection'' (a Nick Carter book, in collaboration with Jack Davis) (Charter, 1981)

Western novels

:* ''Ryan Rides Back'' (M. Evans, 1988) :* ''Galveston Gunman'' (M. Evans, 1989) :* ''A Time for Hanging'' (M. Evans, 1989) :* ''Medicine Show'' (M. Evans, 1990) :* ''Outrage at Blanco'' (Dell, 1999) :* ''Texas Vigilante'' (Dell, 1999)

Horror novels

(all published under the pseudonym "Jack MacLane") :* ''Keepers of the Beast'' (Zebra, 1988) :* ''Goodnight, MooM'' (Zebra, 1989) :* ''Blood Dreams'' (Zebra, 1989) :* ''Rest in Peace'' (Zebra, 1990) :* ''Just before Dark'' (Zebra, 1990)

Stone: M.I.A. Hunter series

(All published under the pseudonym "''Jack Buchanan.''" The entire series was co-written with

Stephen Mertz Stephen Mertz is an American fiction author who is best known for his mainstream thrillers and novels of suspense. His work covers a wide variety of styles from paranormal dark suspense (''Night Wind'' and ''Devil Creek'') to historical speculati ...

, Michael Newton, and Joe R. Lansdale.) :* ''Miami War Zone'' (Stone: MIA Hunter #10) (Jove, 1988) :* ''Desert Death Raid'' (Stone: MIA Hunter #12) (Jove, 1989) :* ''Back to 'Nam'' (Stone: MIA Hunter #14) (Jove, 1990)

Books for young readers

:* ''A Vampire Named Fred'' (Temple Books, 1990) :* ''Muttketeer: A Wishbone Book'' (Big Red Chair Books, 1997) :* ''Mike Gonzo and the Sewer Monster'' (Minstrel, 1996) :* ''Mike Gonzo and the Almost Invisible Man'' (Minstrel, 1996) :* ''Mike Gonzo and the UFO Terror'' (Minstrel, 1997) – ''(winner of the 1997

Golden Duck Award The Golden Duck Awards for Excellence in Children's Science Fiction were given annually from 1992 to 2017. The awards were presented every year at either Worldcon or the North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFiC). In 2018 they were replace ...

for Best Juvenile SF Novel)''

Short story collections

:* ''The Nighttime is the Right Time'' (Five Star, 2000)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crider, Bill 1941 births 2018 deaths American male novelists American mystery writers Anthony Award winners People from Mexia, Texas Sidewise Award winners University of North Texas alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni Novelists from Texas 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American male writers 21st-century American novelists 21st-century American male writers People from Alvin, Texas