R.D.Wingfield has died.

[I. J. Parker]

Nobody much comes to my page, so this will probably not do much good. In a way it is symbolic of R.D. Wingfield's life as a mystery author. Nobody much cared -- or nobody in the publishing world cared enough to promote this writer. We have only a handful of Frost novels. The British eventually produced a wonderful television series based on some of them. But the novels are not well known and very hard to find. I eventually managed to find them in cheap paperback editions. And Wingfield gave up writing them.

I am a fan of police procedurals. That means I have read most police procedurals. Wingfield's are far and away the best. Why didn't readers recognize that? Why didn't publishers promote this series? Not even after the PBS series was such a success? We'll never know, but readers are much poorer for it.

His final Frost novel will be released posthumously next year. Sarah Weinman's blog carries a comment by his agent.

Thank you, R.D. Wingfield.

[I. J. Parker]

Yes, I just read Stuart's tribute. I feel exactly the same way about the Frost novels. I have never understood why reviewers haven't raved about them the way they rave about Rankin and Mankell, for example.

[Karen from AustCrime]

I have read his books and I loved them - they were available here fairly readily, as is the TV show (which I also liked, even though the David Jason Frost is a bit different from the book Frost). Stuart MacBride has possibly written the best tribute I've seen in a while:

http://halfhead.blogspot.com/2007/08/tribute-to-rd-wingfield.html

[Laura Root]

Sorry to hear this. I must confess I have never read his books, but have watched the Frost TV series (they are very very popular in the UK)

[I. J. Parker]

I don't know "Outbreak of Fear." Perhaps it was only available in the UK. He was a very fine novelist. The PBS series was outstanding partially because of actors and production, but the novels were wholly his. And they are impressive.

[Simon Wood]

That's sad. I enjoyed his books and his radio work. Outbreak of Fear remains one of my favorite radio serials.