British author and former editor David Roberts died December 18, the Bookseller reported. He was 81. Roberts began his publishing career under publisher Norah Smallwood at Chatto & Windus, where he edited Iris Murdoch, Dirk Bogarde, and Laurens van der Post.
Noting that "the world of books [has] lost one of the last true men of letters," Lesley O'Mara of Michael O'Mara Books said, "In 1978 he joined me at Rainbird where we enjoyed much success with authors such as Peter Ustinov, Len Deighton, Arthur C. Clarke, and Max Hastings. He also worked on Lord Mountbatten's private photo archive to produce Mountbatten: 80 Years in Pictures, which was completed shortly before he was assassinated in August 1979."
O'Mara later moved to Weidenfeld and Nicolson, with Roberts following shortly after. During the 1980s, he published Martin Gilbert's history of the Second World War as well as a number of political biographies. "We combined forces for the third time at Michael O'Mara Books but David had his sights on life as an author, and over the next decade wrote a series of 10 crime novels set in the 1930s," O'Mara recalled.
As an writer, Roberts is best known for the Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne series of crime novels, the Bookseller noted. His books include Sweet Poison; Bones of the Buried; and Hollow Crown.
Roberts's editor Krystyna Green said, "I was lucky enough 25 years ago to have taken on his Lord Edward Corinth and Verity Browne crime fiction series for Constable. David was a complete joy to work with: professional, funny and so very kind too.... I was privileged to have got to know David during our decade of working together and think publishing will now be that little bit poorer without him."