On the passing of Jerry Healy
It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Jeremiah Healy. Jerry was a great guy and a terrific writer, and we were proud to re-release his Cuddy novels as eBooks, so that they could be available to a new generation of readers.
The Boston Globe wrote a very thoughtful obituary for Jerry, which we wanted to share.
To what he once called Boston’s “rich and fertile setting” for detective fiction, Jerry Healy added nuance not found in the tough guys who warily stroll the alleys of private eye novels.
John Francis Cuddy, the Hub-based hero of his 13-book mystery series, “is a man who keeps his promises, but isn’t afraid to use violence to do so,” Mr. Healy said in an April 2000 interview with January magazine. He added, however, that “the reason why I’ve been blessed with so many female readers is that Cuddy isn’t sexist. He’s also honorable in his dealings with the women in the books.”
Perhaps the purest relationship in Cuddy’s life was the one he had with his late wife, Beth, whose gravesite in a Boston cemetery he visited regularly. In scenes that might be called magical realism if the Cuddy books were on the literary shelves, rather than tucked away with mystery novels, Mr. Healy let his most famous character hold conversations with Beth, who offered gentle guidance from the grave. “If you’re waiting for life to be fair, John, I think you’re in for a very long siege,” Beth tells Cuddy in “Spiral,” the 1999 novel that was the last in the series.
Within the community of crime writers, Mr. Healy was as loved for the time he invested as a mentor to aspiring writers as he was respected for his 18 novels and dozens of short stories. Nominated repeatedly for a Shamus Award, which he won for his second novel, Mr. Healy was a regular at mystery writers’ conferences around the world, generously offering tips and contacts. Six years ago, he traded his Commonwealth Avenue home for Pompano Beach, Fla., where he took his life Aug. 14, according to his fiancee, the mystery writer Sandra Balzo...
