James Sallis, 1944–2026.

Nathan Ashman's James Sallis:
A Companion to the Mystery Fiction

Author James Sallis died on Jan 27 at age 81. Although he might be best known for Drive (adapted as a film with Ryan Gosling and Carrie Mulligan), he had a long and distinguished career, not only in mystery fiction but also in science fiction and as a critic. There are many admirers of his Lew Griffin series (e.g., The Long Legged Fly), and he wrote a well-respected biography of Chester Himes. He received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Bouchercon, the Hammett Award for literary excellence in crime writing, and the Grand Prix de Littérature policière.  

He wrote to me after James Sallis: A Companion to the Mystery Fiction by Nathan Ashman had won the Edgar Award for best biographical/critical work (I edited the book), expressing his appreciation for Nathan's hard work and mentioning that his email box had been filling up with congratulations after the Edgar win (It was the first Edgar win for a book in the series, although the Ian Rankin companion and the James Ellroy companion had been Edgar nominees). He also related a funny story: when he was reading the companion, he discovered to his horror that he had forgotten about three short stories discussed by Nathan, and he was in the midst of compiling a collection of his "complete" short stories. He sent an SOS to his editor, rooted around in his files, found the stories, and managed to include them in the volume. Said he, "So Nathan, and you, have to take the blame for those three."

James Sallis' biography of Chester Himes, 
called "smart, conscientious, often stylish" 
by Robert Polito in NYT