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| Robert Richardson | |
Journalist and crime novelist Robert Richardson, who won the Crime Writers' Association's John Creasey Memorial Award for his first novel, The Latimer Mercy (1985), has died. He was 80. Describing him as "one of the most popular and respected figures in the CWA over recent decades," the organization noted that Richardson served two terms as chair of the CWA, 1993-1994 and 2006-2007, "and was well-known at conferences and chapter meetings for his warm wit, generosity, and welcoming jocular personality."
In March 2020, during CWA Northern Chapter's last meeting before the pandemic, Richardson was presented with a Red Herring award in recognition of his distinguished service to the association and its members over the decades.
A journalist by profession, Richardson "moved from writing whodunits featuring an amateur sleuth to novels of psychological suspense," the CWA observed. The Latimer Mercy featured Augustus Maltravers, "an intelligent and likable character who returned in five more novels... The Book of the Dead (1989), set in Cumbria, contains a lengthy--and well-wrought--Sherlockian pastiche. Later novels broke free of the conventions of the traditional whodunit: The Hand of Strange Children (1993) was nominated for the CWA Gold Dagger, and is an example of the 'who-was-dun-in' type of crime novel, where the identities of the murder victims described at the beginning of the book are as uncertain as the identity of their killer. Two further standalone mysteries followed."
The CWA wrote that Richardson, who remained active in the organization after he had stopped writing mystery novels, "was a famous figure at CWA conferences, setting a witty and amusing competition which always caused much hilarity. He was a member of the Midlands Chapter and latterly the Northern Chapter. Robert's welcoming of new members at such gatherings endeared him to many, and for years no CWA conference was complete without him and his lovely wife Sheila. He will be much missed."