I suppose that by now everyone who reads this blog is aware of the untimely death this past Monday of David Thompson of Murder By The Book in Houston. David's wife, McKenna Jordan, found him that evening near his computer. He was thirty-eight and had no known health problems. David had been at the store for twenty-one years, and insofar as I know it was the only job he ever held aside from being publisher and chief editor of Busted Flush Press, which he founded in 2005. Among his many other duties at MBTB, he functioned as the store's events coordinator. Over the years he had been responsible for bringing many true heavyweights of the crime fiction genre to Houston.
There was no one quite like David in the mystery field. But with David there was no mystery: what you saw was what you got, and what you saw was boundless enthusiasm and a love of fine stories. To say nothing of an endless well of help and encouragement for new writers. He was the first person to contact me about a book signing when my debut novel came out, and we were friends ever afterward. Most recently he was instrumental in my getting two fine jacket blurbs from better known writers for my current book. And I was certainly not the only person he ever helped.
We will all miss him.
***
