Tragic death of author Jeremiah Healy

[KenIsaacson]

I, like so many of my friends, were shocked to hear last week that Jeremiah Healy took his life. Jerry was the author of the John Francis Cuddy private eye books and (under the pen name Terry Devane) of the Mairead O’Clare legal thriller series Rather than comment online immediately, I found I had to take some time to reflect on the news. I have nothing profound to say, but I do need to add my voice to the chorus of writers and readers who mourn this terrible loss.

My first contact with Jerry was in 2006, when I was preparing for the launch of my debut novel, SILENT COUNSEL, and I was looking for established writers willing to blurb the book. I’d never met Jerry, but was a fan of his work. I knew that he was a member of Mystery Writers of America, and I e-mailed him cold—“One MWA member to another”—asking if he’d be willing to help out. Within a day or two, and not knowing me from Adam, he responded with a yes. A few weeks later I had my first blurb. A wonderful one, at that.

I finally met Jerry at the Edgars Banquet in 2007, and though our contact through the years was casual, I would continue to run into him at conferences like Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime. The last time I saw him was at LCC in Monterey, last March, where I had the honor of moderating a panel in which he (along with Joel Goldman, Charles Rosenberg, and Sheldon Siegel) participated: “Legal Thrillers: NOT Your Father’s Perry Mason.” Jerry shared with us his encyclopedic knowledge of legal thrillers throughout the years.

One recurring theme I’ve seen in the online remembrances of Jerry is how helpful he was to so many beginning writers—something that his willingness to blurb my book demonstrated to me years ago. Going through my old e-mails this morning, I found this, from him, in response to my thanks for his confidence in me: “Ken, Happy to help, as folks like Robert B. Parker and Tony Hillerman did the same for me back in the mid-80’s when I was breaking into the field. My only hope: You’ll also ‘pay it forward’ to rookies once YOU”RE established as well.”

My thoughts are with his wife, Sandy Balzo, and with the rest of Jerry’s family. Jerry, I hope you are at peace.

[crich70]

It sounds like he was a very nice man who believed in helping others in his field of endeavor which is something rare now days. Something we all could aspire to do if we are in a position to give someone else a hand up.