RIP: Steve J. Spears

I was saddened to hear of the death of Australian playwright turned crime novelist Steve J. Spears. Spears passed away in his home in South Australia last Tuesday, succumbing to lung cancer and a brain tumour. He wrote numerous plays including his most notable being the award-winning The Elocution of Benjamin Franklin which earned him international recognition. He also wrote many scripts for television shows and children’s books.

Over the last few years, though, he wrote detective novels in a series titled The Pentangeli Papers featuring wannabe actress private detective Stella Pentangeli and the brilliant Inspector Ng. According to the Wakefield Press website, Steve was planning on writing 13 books for the series but the count only made it to book 3.

All 3 books bear the hallmark Spears wit and humour making them highly entertaining books to read, not to mention well-crafted mysteries to boot.

The 3 books of The Pentangeli Papers are:
Murder At the Fortnight (2003)
Murder By Manuscript (2004)
Innocent Murder (2005)