Wiliam G. Tapply, RIP

William G. Tapply, the author of over two dozen mystery novels (including the long-running Brady Coyne series) and 40 books overall, died last night in Hancock, NH after a two-year battle with leukemia. He was 69 years old. Tapply’s next novel, DARK TIGER, the third book in his Stoney Calhoun mystery series, will be published on September 29 by Minotaur Books. He is survived by his wife, Vicki Stiefel; three children, Mike, Sarah and Melissa; and two step-children, Blake and Ben. 

UPDATE: MidCurrent has an extended obituary and tribute from Norman Ziegler:

Bill was a gentleman and a gentle man. When I was sick and mainly
housebound and down and out and working on my first book, he offered
unending encouragement and astute critiques that helped make it better.
He was the best mentor a journalist turning author could have. His
favorite writer was Hemingway and, like Hemingway, he believed strongly
in being economical with his written words…

To paraphrase Hemingway's tribute to a Ketchum friend who died: Best of
all he loved the woods and streams and ponds and other wild places. Now
he will be a part of them forever.

UPDATE 2: More obituaries in the Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, and Field & Stream.