They Also Served: William L. DeAndrea

CRITIC, AUTHOR
Pseudonyms include Philip DeGrave
(1952-96)

Just going through a few old issues of  The Armchair Detective (1967-97, the quarterly journal journal that kept the faith among mystery fans back in the day. What a glorious treasure trove of reviews, opinions, interviews & thinkpieces on crime fiction it was!  In the days before the internet, it was many people’s only access to the mystery “community.”

And ohmygawd, columnist WILLIAM L. DeANDREA (1952–1996) was some kind of fierce. A writer always, an Edgar-winning mystery author and especially as a critic, I realize now how much his writing influenced me.

Where others tiptoed, he shredded. Fiercely. He died in 1996, pretty much predating the whole internet boom, but I imagine he wouldn’t have had much use for the circle-jerk backscratching among writers, the flim-flam self-publishing industry and the constant begging for 5-star reviews that it coughed up on us–although I’m guessing he would have set the social networks aflame. He did not tread lightly, and rarely suffered fools.

His column, the appropriately tiled J’Accuse!, in Armchair Detective (when I was lucky enough to track down an issue) were must-reads. And when I finally bit the bullet and subscribed, I invariably turned to  J’Accuse! first.

He called out hypocrisy and punctured many an ego-balloon, championed unknown writers and leveled more than a few playing fields (and household names), and was always honest, openly admitting his mistakes and prejudices. He was savage, but also funny, clever and fair. He never seemed mean–at least to me.

He was born in Port Chester, New York in 1952, and was a mystery buff from pretty much the age of twelve, when–home sick from school one day–he found a copy of The Adventures of Ellery Queen. He attended Syracuse University, graduating with a degree in Communications, and promptly went to work in television, while writing on the side.

His first novel, Killed in the Ratings, was published in 1978, and promptly won an Edgar Award for the Best First Mystery Novel. That debut launched a series centered on Matt Cobb, an executive trouble-shooter for a TV network who unravels murders alongside corporate foul play.

It should be noted that, as much as I loved his rabble-rousing reviews and his op-eds, that DeAndrea  was also a crackerjack mystery author. He would go on to win not one, but two more (TWO MORE!)  Edgar Awards from the Mystery Writers of America.

DeAndrea’s other series included the Niccolo Benedetti mysteries, focussed on an a world-famous criminologist professor based in Sparta, New York, and paid homage to great detectives such as Nero Wolfe (DeAndrea was a huge fan), while the Clifford Driscoll books followed the adventures of an American spy. The Lobo Blacke and Quinn Booker books, meanwhile, were set in the Old West.

During the 1980s his job took him to Europe, first to Paris and then to London, where in 1982 he took part in the game show Top of the World, competing with contestants from around the world. DeAndrea emerged as the American champion (thanks to his extensive knowledge of Ellery Queen) and made it to the finals, but lost out to a British insurance broker.

He returned to the United States and settled in Connecticut, commuting to the Murder Ink bookstore in New York City. It was during his four years there that he met Orania Papzoglou (aka mystery writer Jane Haddam, best known for the Gregor Demarkian series), whom he later married (they had two children).

DeAndrea won his third Edgar in 1994 for his reference work, Encyclopedia Mysteriosa (1994), one of the key resources and inspirations for this site. Sometimes-tough, but always fair, this labour of love was an impressively comprehensive guide to the art of detection in print, film, radio and television, and his affection for the genre shone through on every page.

When I attended my very first Bouchercon, back in the pre-internet nineties, I was fortunate enough to meet DeAndrea, and he was larger than life; as amusing and friendly as a star-struck fan could wish. A year later, he was gone, a victim of cancer. Way too soon.

Ah, Bill, we hardly knew ye…

NOVELS

• Killed in the Ratings (1978; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book |  Kindle it!
• The HOG Murders (1979, Niccolo Benedetti)
• The Lunatic Fringe: A Novel Wherein Theodore Roosevelt Meets the Pink Angel (1980)
• Killed in the Act (1981; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Five O’Clock Lightning (1982)
• Killed with a Passion (1983; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book |  Kindle it!
• Killed on the Ice (1984; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Cronus (1984, Clifford Driscol)
• Unholy Moses (1985; as Philip DeGrave)
• Snark (1985, Clifford Driscol)
• Keep the Baby, Faith (1986; as Philip DeGrave)
• Azreal (1987, Clifford Driscol)
• Killed in Paradise (1988; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Killed on the Rocks (1990; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Atropos (1990, Clifford Driscol)
• The Werewolf Murders (1992, Niccolo Benedetti)
• The Manx Murders (1994, Niccolo Benedetti)
• Killed in Fringe Time (1995; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Written in Fire (1995; Black & Booker)
• Killed in the Fog (1996; Matt Cobb) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Fatal Elixir (1997; Black& Booker)

COLLECTIONS

• Murder — All Kinds (2003) | Buy this book
  Intended as a tribute to DeAndrea, it rounds up all his known mystery short stories, including tales about Matt Cobb, Sherlock Holmes (one told in the “voice” of Mickey Spillane), a re-telling of the fairy tale “Prince Charming” as a modern story of detection, a previously unpublished story of murder just before (or so everyone thinks) the world is about to be annihilated, and a modern-day encounter with Frankenstein’s monster, with an introduction by his wife, Jane Haddam.

NON-FICTION

• Encyclopedia Mysteriosa (1994) | Buy this book
  Like the sub-title says, “A Comprehensive Guide to the Art of Detection in Print, Film, Radio, and Television.”

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.